The 20-year-old freshman student was still asleep that Sunday morning at the family’s house on the Andaman Sea coast of

Luke Simon lost his brother, Piers, in the tsunami disaster in Thailand and has since spoken out on the anniversary of the disaster.

I don’t wish ever a disaster of this magnitude on anyone,” one woman said. But the 2004 Asian tsunami also made her realize "there’s more to this world, and it’s about love.”

One of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami marks its 20th anniversary on Dec. 26

A 9.1-magnitude earthquake on 26 December 2004 caused a tsunami which hit a dozen countries and killed some 220,000 people. Our colleagues at France 2 take a look back at the unprecedented tragedy and some the lessons learnt.

Understanding of the Sumatran subduction zone and its hazards has increased since the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

Survivors and mourners gathered at mass graves in Indonesia, Thailand and other places along the Indian Ocean that were devastated by the 2004 tsunami — the deadliest in the world.

Christmas in 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake under the Indian Ocean triggered tsunami waves that killed some 230,000 people across a dozen countries.

On Dec. 26, 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the west coast of Sumatra, causing a massive wave that devastated Asian coastal communities across thousands of miles.

Almost 1,000 kilometers off the Thai coast devastated by a tsunami 20 years ago, engineers lower a detection buoy into the waves—a key link in a warning system intended to ensure no disaster is as deadly again.

Survivors and relatives of victims of the Boxing Day Tsunami held memorials in Thailand to mark the disaster’s 20th anniversary today. Families laid flowers and lit candles in Phuket and Phang Nga provinces on the east coast of the country, where at least 5,046 people died.

The Boxing Day tsunami interrupted a civil war, triggered the worst rail accident in history and shattered the lives of millions. Twenty years on, those who escaped certain death share their stories.