2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami: A disaster that devastated 14 countries

People walk among the rubble of the tsunami in Hambantota, Sri Lanka in January 2005. The Indian Ocean tsunami struck on 26 December 2004, causing massive destruction along coastal areas of 14 countries, including Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Foreign tourists react as the first of six tsunami start to roll towards Hat Rai Lay Beach, near Krabi in southern Thailand on December 26, 2004.

Thai medical staff rush a victim of tidal waves to the operating theater at Phuket International Hospital on December 26, 2004. At least 310 people were killed and more than 5,000 injured in southern Thailand.

Foreign tourists look at damage caused by the tsunami in Phuket on December 26, 2004.

The scene on Phi Phi island in southern Thailand the day after a tidal wave struck on December 26, 2004.

People walk through debris along the shoreline of Pathong beach of Phuket island, December 27, 2004, a day after the disaster.

The scene at Marina beach in Chennai, India on December 26, 2004, after tidal waves hit the region.

Aerial view of the destruction at Marina Beach in Chennai on December 26, 2004.

Bystanders watch rescue operations at Marina Beach in Chennai on December 26, 2004. Powerful waves sent this car crashing onto a road barrier.

Residents wade through the trail of destruction along the coastal railway line in the southern town of Lunawa after tsunami tidal waves lashed more than half of Sri Lanka's coastline.

Sri Lankan pedestrians walk through floodwaters in a main street in Galle, after the coastal town was hit by a tidal wave.

An aerial shot taken from a helicopter shows debris of houses destroyed by the tsunami waves in Galle, Sri Lanka, on December 27, 2004.

Sri Lankan men sort through debris of their destroyed homes in Galle on December 27, 2004.

Sri Lankan health officials and relatives carry the body of a dead man away in Galle on December 27, 2004.

Local residents in Banda Aceh carry away the body of a dead relative the day after the disaster on December 27, 2004.

Fishing boats and a car are among the debris left along the coast of Langkawi in northwest Malaysia on December 26, 2004.

Dead fish are strewn across a beach in Penang, a day after an earthquake-triggered tidal waves that lashed the Malaysian coast. In a report published in January 2005, Malaysians were urged to ignore rumors that fish were tainted by feeding on corpses after the disaster.

Two years later on December 6, 2006, Thai workers carry the body of an unidentified victim of the 2004 tsunami to be buried at Bang Maruan cemetery, in Thailand's southern province of Phang Ng. Thailand buried the last of its unknown victims in a quiet ceremony attended by a handful of officials and Buddhist monks.

Tsunami victim Heru checks his homework inside his family's room at a temporary housing complex in Banda Aceh on December 12, 2006. Two years after the Indian Ocean tsunami wiped out their neighborhoods, many survivors struggled to understand why their homes have not been rebuilt.