Survivors and relatives held commemorations in several countries on Thursday to commemorate two decades since a devastating tsunami claimed lives from Myanmar to Somalia.

The magnitude 9.1 event, known scientifically as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, killed an estimated 226,408 people, according to EM-DAT, a recognized global disaster database.

Waves as high as 30 meters (98 feet) hit the coasts of 14 countries following the shock, causing fatal consequences.

The four worst-hit countries were Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, with more than 170,000 deaths in Indonesia alone.

The Indonesian province of Aceh was hit hardest by the tsunami

In Indonesia’s Aceh province, where the tsunami killed around 100,000 people, a siren sounded from the Baiturrahman Mosque to start a series of commemorations.

Thousands gathered at mass graves in the region, near the geological epicenter off the northwest coast of Sumatra where most of the Indonesian victims died.

Hundreds of survivors visited a mass grave in the village of Ulee Lheue, where more than 14,000 unknown victims are buried. They scattered flower petals on stones to mark the graves of their loved ones.

The tsunami derailed a passenger train in Peraliya, Sri Lanka, killing nearly 2,000 people

In Sri Lanka, the day was marked with two minutes of silence at the Peraliya Tsunami Memorial Statue in the city of Galle.

Mourners laid flowers at a memorial for nearly 2,000 passengers who died when giant waves hit their train, the Ocean Queen Express.

They boarded the restored train and traveled to the exact spot where it was blown off the tracks, about 90 kilometers (56 miles) south of the capital Colombo.

In Thailand, fishermen have to suffer enormous sacrifices

People in Thailand gathered and laid flowers at a ceremony in Ban Nam Khem, a fishing village in the hardest-hit Phang Nga province.

Many of the 8,000 people killed there were foreign tourists celebrating Christmas on the area’s sunny beaches.

About 300 people attended a ceremony where Muslim, Buddhist and Christian prayers were said.

The devastating wave claimed more than 8,000 lives in Thailand, and many are still missing. Around 400 bodies have still not been picked up.

Indians gather in Chennai to offer prayers

Hundreds in India gathered at Marina Beach in the southern city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu state.

They poured milk into the sea and offered flowers and prayers for the dead to the sound of drums in the background.

Data shows that 10,749 people were killed in India, nearly 7,000 of them in Tamil Nadu alone.

Nearly 300 people died across the Indian Ocean in Somalia, while more than 100 died in the Maldives and dozens in Malaysia and Myanmar.

rc/rm (AFP, AP, Reuters)