Across south-east Asia, people marked the 20th anniversary on Boxing Day, gathering in prayer at mass-grave sites, in which many of the dead had to be buried. In Indonesia’s Aceh Province, more than 14,000 people were interred in one mass grave.

On 26 December 2004, Amber Owen, 28, from Milton Keynes, was on holiday in Phuket when a magnitude-9.1 earthquake struck under the sea in northern Indonesia. It claimed the lives of 230,000 people, but she taken to safety by elephant, Ningnong who she was riding at the time the first wave hit.

Tsunami and earthquake data still isn’t shared widely around the world. Local authorities and experts often don’t communicate the risk to residents of flood-prone communities.

Daniel Poole was travelling in Sri Lanka when he was hit by the tsunami, whilst Rachel Harvey witnessed the devastation in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

A tsunami warning system was built after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami catastrophe but can we ever be thoroughly prepared for such a disaster?

Ani Naqvi remembers the Boxing Day tsunami 20 years ago not just as the day when she nearly lost her life but one that gave her new purpose. She had just turned 33 and was visiting a friend in the Sri Lankan surfing village of Arugam Bay on 26 December 2004 when one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded struck off the coast of Indonesia,