Indonesia and Thailand are marking 20 years since a tsunami caused the death of hundreds of thousands of people in one of the worst natural disasters in modern history.

People started gathering in prayer today and visiting mass graves in Aceh, one of the worst-hit areas by the Boxing Day Indian Ocean tsunami which saw an estimated 230,000 people killed across a dozen countries.

The tsunami was triggered by a 9.1-magnitude earthquake that struck off the west coast of North Sumatra, Indonesia, at 7.59am local time on 26 December 2004.

Indonesia was the country with highest number of deaths, but India, Sri Lanka and Thailand were also badly hit.

Many wept openly at the mass grave in Ulee Lheue village, where more than 14,000 unidentified and unclaimed tsunami victims are buried. It is one of several mass graves in Banda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia’s northernmost province.

Footage showed people visiting a mass grave in Siron to remember the victims of an event that shocked the world.

In Thailand, people gathered in Phang Nga province to honour the victims and those affected.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the disaster, Sky News has spoken to people who survived the tsunami, one of whom lost his brother to the huge waves while they holidayed together in Thailand.

In Aceh, the tsunami reached 167ft (51m) high, according to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and caused flooding up to three miles (5km) inland.

The infrastructure in Aceh has been rebuilt and is now more resilient than 20 years ago.

Early warning systems have been installed in coastal areas to alert residents of potential tsunamis, providing crucial time to seek safety.

The rebuilding efforts were made possible by the support of international donors and organisations, who contributed significant funds to help the region recover.

Schools, hospitals, and essential infrastructure that were destroyed by the disaster have been reconstructed with enhanced strength and durability, ensuring better preparedness for future challenges.

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Various communities in Aceh commemorate the tsunami yearly along with the government and local authorities.

In Banda Aceh, art communities in early December spread disaster awareness through theatrical or musical performances that can be easier for people to follow and target all groups, including those born after the tsunami.

The possibility that a power cable under the Baltic Sea between Finland and Estonia has been sabotaged is being investigated after it stopped working on Christmas Day.

Authorities in both countries are examining whether a foreign ship may have been involved, without naming the vessel.

It’s the latest in a series of incidents in the region in which undersea cables appear to have been damaged.

The Estlink-2 cable suffered a sudden failure on Wednesday, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said.

“The police, in cooperation with the Border Guard and other authorities, are investigating the chain of events of the incident,” Finnish police said in a statement.

There was no power loss to citizens in either Estonia or Finland during the outage, with Estonia saying they had enough spare capacity to meet power needs, public broadcaster ERR said on its website.

But the 658 megawatt (MW) Estlink 2 power interconnector remained offline following the outage that began at midday local time, leaving only the 358 MW Estlink 1 in operation between the two countries, operator Fingrid said.

Baltic Sea nations are on high alert for potential acts of sabotage following a string of outages of power cables, telecom
links and gas pipelines since 2022, although subsea equipment is also subject to technical malfunction and accidents.

Yesterday’s incident comes after the Balticconnector gas pipeline linking Finland and Estonia was damaged last year, along with several telecoms cables.

Finnish police investigating that incident said it was likely caused by a ship dragging its anchor.

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It comes as Swedish police are leading an investigation into the breach last month of two Baltic Sea telecom cables, in an incident German defence minister Boris Pistorius has said he assumed was caused by sabotage.

The Nord Stream natural gas pipelines that once brought natural gas from Russia to Germany were damaged by underwater explosions in September 2022.

Authorities have termed it sabotage and launched criminal probes.

Sir Keir Starmer has condemned Russia’s Christmas Day bombardment of Ukraine, saying the hail of missiles and drones was “bloody and brutal”.

The prime minister lamented that there was “no respite even at Christmas” for Ukrainians, who spent the morning sheltering in metro stations as bombs rained down on their cities.

Russia’s defence ministry said it carried out a “massive strike” on energy facilities that it claimed supported Kyiv’s military.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy also condemned the attack, saying Russia was seeking to plunge his people into darkness.

“Putin deliberately chose Christmas,” he said on Wednesday. “What could be more inhumane?”

In the east, Kremlin forces claim to have captured the settlement of Vidrodzhennia as they continue to make territorial gains.

‘Christmas gift to Ukraine’

Regions across the country reported missile and drone strikes as Ukrainians spend another holiday season facing attacks on their power infrastructure.

Kyiv’s military said it downed 59 Russian missiles and 54 drones, but others made it through their air defences.

Strikes in Kharkiv wounded six people and left half a million in the region without heating, as temperatures hovered just a few degrees above zero.

“Kharkiv is under massive missile fire. A series of explosions rang out in the city and there are still ballistic missiles flying in the direction of the city. Stay in safe places,” Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

In the capital, residents faced blackouts while in Dnipro region one person was killed.

Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhiy Lysa said the Russian army is trying to destroy the region’s power system.

Ukrainians, marking their second Christmas since changing to celebrate on the same day as the West, sheltered in underground metro stations as the deadly salvo of missiles soared towards them.

“Russia’s Christmas gift to Ukraine: more than 70 missiles and 100 drones,” US ambassador Bridget Brink said. “For the third holiday season, Russia weaponises winter.”

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Four dead in Kursk region

In the east, Ukrainian soldiers celebrated Christmas by candlelight as they ate together near the frontline.

Fighting continues to be tough in Donbas, as Russian forces push forward and make steady gains.

On Wednesday, Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had taken the settlement of Vidrodzhennia.

Across the border, in Russia’s Kursk region, four people were killed and five injured in the town of Lgov after Ukrainian shelling, the region’s acting governor said.

“A five-storey residential building, two single-storey residential buildings and a single-storey beauty salon were seriously damaged,” Alexander Khinshtein wrote on Telegram.

Pope calls for peace talks

In the Vatican, Pope Francis mentioned the war in Ukraine directly during his Christmas Day message, calling for “the boldness needed to open the door to negotiation”.

Speaking to thousands of people from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, he said: “May the sound of arms be silenced in war-torn Ukraine!”

He also called for “gestures of dialogue and encounter, in order to achieve a just and lasting peace”.