South Asia Recalls Tsunami's Wrath

Ceremonies Mark One-Year Anniversary Of Devastating Waves

(CBS/AP) 
"We knew it was just a drill," said Candra Yohanes, 55, who was among thousands of residents of Padang town who fled to higher ground when the sirens rang out Monday. "Still, when I heard the siren, my heart was pounding so hard."

At least 216,000 people were killed or disappeared in the waves, The Associated Press found in an assessment of government and credible relief agency figures in each country hit. The U.N. puts the number at least 223,000, though it says some countries are still updating their figures.

The true toll will probably never be known. Many bodies were lost at sea and population data in some places was destroyed.

"It was so brutal, so quick, and so extensive that we are still struggling to fully comprehend it," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a videotaped message Monday.

The tsunami generated one of the most generous outpourings of foreign aid ever known. Some $13 billion was pledged to relief and recovery efforts, the U.N. says, of which 75 percent has already been secured.

But the pace of reconstruction has been criticized, and frustration has grown with 80 percent of the 1.8 million people displaced by the waves still living in tents, plywood barracks or with family and friends.

Looking across the part of Banda Aceh that was hardest hit, it seems like little has been done, CBS News Correspondent Barry Petersen reports — houses turned to hulks, fields littered with debris stretched for miles.

There are a lot of people still living the way they were pretty much in the days after the tsunami, some 70,000 are still living in tents. They're still waiting for the rebuilding to reach them (video).

Even in the city of Banda Aceh, where a lot of areas were untouched by the tsunami, the earthquake's ground-ripping upheaval destroyed the city's sewer and water system, Petersen reports.

"Every meter, every yard of pipe in the city of Banda Aceh is ultimately going to have to be replaced. This is the mother of all home improvement projects," aid worker Paul Dillon said.

In Aceh, one survivor dismissively gestured at a jumble of scrap iron and plastic sheeting — all that remains of his neighborhood.

"You want to talk about changes, we've seen nothing," said Baihqi, 24. "Many promises of aid, but that's all we get — promises."

Of the anniversary, he said, "it just means we've existed for one year. We're still around."

The tsunami had the unlikely effect, however, of helping usher peace to the province.

The government and separatist guerillas decided they did not want to add to people's suffering and ended a nearly three-decade civil war that left nearly 15,000 dead.

In Sri Lanka, the waves had the opposite effect. Disputes over tsunami aid and an upsurge in violence have raised fears the island will return to civil war despite a 2002 cease-fire.