On December 26, 2004, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake off Indonesia's western tip generated a series of massive waves that pummelled the coastline of 14 countries from Indonesia to Somalia.
“I hope we will never experience that ever again,“ said Nilawati, a 60-year-old Indonesian housewife who lost her son and mother in the tragedy.
Victims of waves as high as 30 metres (98 feet) included many foreign tourists celebrating Christmas on the region's sun-kissed beaches, bringing the tragedy into homes around the globe.
A total of 226,408 people died as a result of the tsunami, according to EM-DAT, a recognised global disaster database.
But today a sophisticated network of monitoring stations has cut down warning times.
Indonesia suffered the highest death toll, with more than 160,000 people killed along its western coast.
The disaster also ended a decades-long separatist conflict in Aceh, with a peace deal between rebels and Jakarta struck less than a year later.
The mourners will board the restored Ocean Queen Express and head to Peraliya -- the exact spot where it was ripped from the tracks, around 90 kilometres (56 miles) south of Colombo.
In Thailand, where half of the more than 5,000 dead were foreign tourists, unofficial vigils were expected to accompany a government memorial ceremony.
Nearly 300 people were killed as far away as Somalia, as well as more than 100 in the Maldives and dozens in Malaysia and Myanmar.
“The same tragedy was felt by others as well. We feel the same feelings.”
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