Indian Ocean tsunami   Asian countries observed the fifth anniversary of Indian Ocean tsunami, the worst natural disaster  on December 26, 2004 killing nearly 220,000 people in 18 countries.The tsunami was sparked by a 9.2- magnitude earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra - the mightiest earthquake in 40 years. More than 100,000 houses, shops and other buildings were damaged or destroyed in the tsunami. About 20 minutes later, a wall of water up to six storeys high surged in from the sea, burying thousands in thick black mud and leaving others to scramble up buildings or cling onto trees.    Apart from the deaths, hundreds of thousands people lost their homes and livelihoods. No single agency or government could have been prepared for the challenges the tsunami presented, BBC's South- East Asia correspondent says. Some 14 countries were hit by massive tsunami waves. Following the disaster, the UN has been designated to coordinate relief work in massive disaster zones.

Thailand: On Saturday thousand of  Buddhist monks chanted prayers as mourners on Thai beaches, held pictures of loved ones lost five years ago.  Indonesia: In Indonesia's Aceh province, where 170,000 died, thousands held prayers in public mosques and private homes, BBC reported.    Thousands of survivors in Indonesia's Aceh province, the hardest-hit area, gathered at mosques and beside the mass graves where tens of thousands were buried.   Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka was  worst hit by the tsunami. More than 31,000 people died there and half a million were displaced. Families of tsunami victims in coastal areas in the eastern, southern and western provinces took part in the religious events as the nation observed a two-minute silence in memory of those killed, DPA adds.    Sri Lanka observed two minutes of silence to mark the  fifth anniversary of Indian Ocean tsunami.   India:  Survivors and relatives of victims of the 2004 tsunami held memorial meetings and offered prayers on December 26, 2009 in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, news reports said.   Of the 14,000 people who died in villages on India's eastern coast and the Andaman and Nicobar islands on December 26, 2004, at least 8,000 died in Tamil Nadu. Candlelight processions and ceremonies offering prayers for the deceased were held in several coastal Tamil Nadu towns, including capital Chennai. The Indian government has invested millions of rupees towards rehabilitation of the affected, assisted by non-profit organizations.   In Tamil Nadu's Nagapattinam, where the tsunami claimed over 6,000 lives and left more than 100,000 homeless, painful memories of that day remain as people try to move on. But five years after the tsunami, enquiries still come in to the orphanages from parents looking for missing children, PTI reported. Some 241 children were orphaned by the tsunami in Tamil Nadu, while 1,513 others lost one of their parents. Many of the children had moist eyes as they remembered the loved ones.     After effect of tsunami

Death Toll  Indonesia ;  1,68,000  Sri Lanka :      31,000      India         :      18,000  Thailand             5,400  Maldives   :              82  maynamar                61

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