The brunt of the tsunami was felt in the Indonesian province of Aceh, where 170,000 people perished. Sri Lanka, India and Thailand were devastated, too. More than a thousand miles apart, across the Indian Ocean, hundreds of coastal communities were united in their grief, and in facing years of rebuilding and regrouping.

Tearful mourners prayed Thursday as ceremonies began across Asia to remember the 220,000 people who died two decades ago when a tsunami hit coastlines around the Indian Ocean, in one

A father who saved his family during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami has recalled how he "missed death five times on that day". Duncan Ridgley, from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, had emigrated to Sri Lanka with his three children and then wife, arriving in the country on Christmas Eve.

On 26 December 2004, Amber Owen, 28, from Milton Keynes, was on holiday in Phuket when a magnitude-9.1 earthquake struck under the sea in northern Indonesia. It claimed the lives of 230,000 people, but she taken to safety by elephant, Ningnong who she was riding at the time the first wave hit.

Australians recount their stories of survival and recovery.  In 2004, hundreds of millions of dollars were raised to help recovery efforts across the 15 affected countries surrounding the Indian Ocean.