observing the second anniversary of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Moments of silence, prayers and low-key ceremonies marked the day to remember the moment when huge waves slammed into 12 countries around the Indian Ocean leaving a trail of death and destruction. An estimated 230,000 people were killed or went missing.
Indonesia’s northernmost province, Aceh, lost about 167,000 people in the disaster and authorities on Bali island held a tsunami drill to test a new alert system and raise public awareness early Tuesday, December 26.
Sri Lanka officially marked the anniversary with Buddhist prayers for its 35,000 dead, and by erecting the first of 100 coastal towers to warn of impending disasters, but it was believed that the minority Christians held their own ceremonies. Elsewhere, multi-faith ceremonies are taking place in India, which lost 18,000 people to the tsunami, and in Thailand, where 8,200 people died, about half of them foreign tourists, news reports said.
The tsunami was caused by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake under the ocean floor off Indonesia’s Sumatra, experts say. Yet, the director of Asia Harvest, a major mission group working in the region, and his wife said churches have been growing on the ruins of the tragedy.
"Just last week we heard about a Christmas party which 100 new Christian members of a people group in Southeast Asia held on the beach for the non-Christians of their group," Paul and Joy Hattaway said in a message to BosNewsLife. "Before the tsunami devastated their community there were no known Christians at all among this small tribe. Now there are 100 thanks to Jesus, who is able to bring beauty out of ashes and despair," they added.
CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS
It came after Asian Christians, a minority in most nations in the region, celebrated Christmas
with services and family feasts. In the Philippines, Asia’s only predominantly Christian nation, a flurry of mobile phone text greetings swamped networks as midnight approached.
Also, "Millions of people who had never heard his name at the start of 2006 [have been] worshipping Him this Christmas," Paul and Joy Hattaway said. They noted that even in countries with reports of persecution Christianity has been spreading.
"The Church in places like China, India, Nepal, Vietnam and elsewhere continues to grow in grace and in size." In some cases continuing violence marred this year’s Christmas celebrations. In Sri Lanka, suspected Tamil Tiger rebels reportedly hurdled a grenade at a police post near a church in the northwest, killing a policeman and wounding three others. In southern Thailand, Muslim insurgents shot and killed a soldier and a civilian.
Tens of thousands of police guarded churches in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation though also home to a significant Christian minority. Six years ago, Muslim militants bombed churches across the nation as they held Christmas services, killing 19 people.
The United States and Australia warned more attacks were possible this year. The advisories were not based on specific intelligence, but reflect a general belief that extremists are more likely to strike over the holiday season. "Life and death are in the hands of God," said Lolita Utamisari after attending Mass at Jakarta’s main cathedral in reported remarks. "We could die anytime, anywhere. Therefore, there is no need to be scared."
UNUSUAL COMMENTS
In an unusual comments, some state-controlled Chinese newspaper indirectly defended Christmas celebrations in comments after a recent public call from a group of graduate students that the Chinese should resist imported holidays such as Christmas.
"Our national culture will not fade only because people are celebrating foreign holidays," said a comment from the Changjiang Times, while the China Daily newspaper said "tolerance" should be shown.
Chinese, Indian and European Christians reportedly also worshipped in mostly Muslim Malaysia, while others shopped, clogging roads to Megamall, Asia’s largest shopping mall, in the capital Kuala Lumpur. Residents, including Christians, in Australia’s drought-affected southeast danced in the streets as summer rains drenched wildfires that have burned out of control for the past three weeks.
"It rained all last night and this morning," said Kirrily Pay, a hotel manager in Woods Point, Victoria, which has been under threat from the fires. "We had the biggest party, we were absolutely ecstatic, we can’t believe we’re still here."
