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.

Survivors and victims' relatives will this week mark the 20th anniversary of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, which killed more than 220,000 people across more than a dozen countries. At the time of the earthquake,

The Asian tsunami that crashed into coastal communities around the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26, 2004, is this century’s deadliest natural disaster so far.

At one in Ulee Lheue village, where 14,000 unidentified victims are buried, families of those killed by the tsunami wept and placed flowers. There were similar memorial ceremonies in Ban Nam Khem, a small fishing town in Thailand that was among those most devastated by the tsunami in the country,