 | 
Hundreds of Indonesians prayed at mass graves in Aceh province on Wednesday to remember relatives who died in the Indian Ocean tsunami three years ago.
On December 26, 2004, giant waves triggered by one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded pulverized villages along Indian Ocean shores, killing or leaving missing about 230,000 people.
Aceh, on the northwestern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island, suffered the most, with about 170,000 dead or missing and billions of dollars in losses.
"We pray for the victims that God may accept their good deeds," said Kamal Usman, a survivor in Calang, an area in western Aceh where hundreds of officials and residents prayed at a ceremony to mark the anniversary.
Elsewhere in Indonesia, thousands of factory workers and villagers scrambled to higher ground as sirens blared in a drill to mark the third anniversary of the disaster.
In Ciwandan on the shore of northwestern Java, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono watched the drill to test a tsunami early warning system.
As part of the drill, authorities also tested the response of emergency relief teams to a mock chemical leak in a factory if an 8.5 magnitude quake were to hit the area.
"We hope through this exercise people begin to understand that they live in a tsunami-prone area and know what to do in case of an emergency," said Ami Pramitasari of the research and technology ministry, which led the drill.
Since the tsunami, Indian Ocean countries have installed expensive warning systems and staged periodic evacuation drills to prepare better for another such disaster. Indonesia, situated in a belt of intense seismic activity known as the "Pacific Ring of Fire", has installed sirens along the coast of quake-prone islands such as Sumatra and Java
Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, head of BRR, the agency charged with rebuilding the Indonesian regions hit by the tsunami, said the reconstruction pace was the fastest in the world.
"There are shortfalls which of course need to be addressed but BRR and all parties that are working in rehabilitating and reconstructing Aceh and Nias have shown significant achievements," he said in a statement.
Mangkusubroto has said more than 100,000 homes had been rebuilt in Aceh and another 20,000 were due to be completed by June next year.
The tsunami helped end three decades of fighting between the government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in which 15,000 people died. The two parties signed a peace agreement in 2005, eight months after the disaster.
(Additional reporting by Dadang Tri in Ciwandan and Ahmad Pathoni in Jakarta; Writing by Adhityani Arga; Editing by Sugita Katyal and Jerry Norton)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/in_pictures_tsunami0_then_and_now/html/1.stm |
Comment deleted at the request of the author.
 | Assalamualaikum ....Wr.....Wb. Ini Bermanfaad bagi umat Muslim & No Muslim Di Dunia anda : Suara Media Jendela Dunia Information Technology & Berita Dunia Islam : Dua bahasa Link: http://eng.suaramedia.com http://www.suaramedia.com/ Please seand email to all your Friend Thank You Very Much |
 | Bentuk tumbuhan lidah buaya mungkin memang sederhana dan tak menarik. Tapi jangan salah, si lidah buaya ini ternyata punya manfaat yang banyak sekali, baik untuk kecantikan maupun kesehatan. Ada lebih dari 200 jenis tumbuhan lidah buaya (aloe vera), tapi sebenarnya hanya lima jenis yang dipertimbangkan memiliki manfaat untuk kesehatan atau digunakan untuk produk-produk kecantikan, yakni Aloe Barbadensis Miller, Aloe Perryi Baker, Aloe Ferox, Aloe Arborescens dan Aloe Saponaria. Visit Good News http://www.suaramedia.com/gaya-hidup/kesehatan/2284-buat-kecantikan-manfaat-lidah-buaya-.html |
 | u really have a great collection !! thanks 4 ur photos |
| |