TAKUA PA, Thailand — Fifteen years after the Indian Ocean tsunami killed more than 230,000 people on Boxing Day, 2004, a cargo container at a police station in southern Thailand bears witness to the hundreds of victims whose remains were never identified. Inside are personal items - wallets, documents, electronics, all bagged and labeled as evidence - that police hope might one day help to give a name and a proper resting place to those buried nearby in graves marked only by numbers. "There are still more relatives of the victims, both near and far, that have hopes of finding their lost loved ones," said Colonel Khemmarin Hassini, deputy police commander in Takua Pa district, one of the areas hardest hit by the tsunami. Triggered by a massive 9.1-magnitude earthquake, the tsunami killed more than 230,000 people as waves as high as 17.4 meters (57 feet) crashed onto the shores of more than a dozen countries, wiping some communities off the map in seconds.

Source: International New York Times December 16, 2019 06:22 UTC