Prime Minister pays tribute to survivors marking 20th anniversary of Boxing Day Tsunami

Martunis was just seven years old when he was found alone, dehydrated and malnourished on an Aceh beach three weeks after surviving the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history.

The little boy had been ripped from the arms of his family when the waves triggered by a powerful 9.2 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, raced across the Indian Ocean at the speed of a jet plane, striking 12 countries and killing up to quarter of a million people.

The deadly surge slammed into Martunis’ family truck as they tried to reach safer ground.

“As the water got closer, my family and I were hit by the tsunami. I tried to lift my sisters who were drowning, but we got separated,” he said, in an account relayed by Save the Children.

After his rescue, the aid agency reunited Martunis with his father and grandmother through its post-disaster tracing program, but his mother and sisters had tragically passed away in the tsunami that had carried the energy equivalent of 23,000 atomic bombs.

Now 27, married and with a young daughter of his own, Martunis is one of the hundreds of thousands of victims and survivors Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has paid tribute to on the 20th anniversary of the catastrophic Boxing Day tsunami.

The disaster was so devastating it “still has the power to shock two decades later,” the Prime Minister said in a video message to mark the tragedy.

“For 20 years, survivors have lived with the weight of loss and the pain of memories, that one terrible day looming so large over all the others,” he said. “For all of these people, we hold them in our hearts.”

Twenty-six Australians were among those who died in the disaster that began with an earthquake so powerful it caused a shift in the earth’s mass and changed the planet’s rotation.

It shattered the lives of millions, with Asia bearing the brunt of the death toll. Indonesia saw the highest casualty figures, with 170,000 people dead, followed by 30,000 in Sri Lanka, 11,000 in India, and 5000 in Thailand.

About 1.7 million were displaced or made homeless as they desperately searched for missing loved ones.

“Our hearts are also filled by what the disaster showed us of the human spirit,” said the Prime Minister.

“Even amid that nightmare, people followed the powerful instinct to help each other, to look out for each other and to comfort each other,” he said.

“That spirit is humanity’s greatest strength,” Mr Albanese added. “May it forever stand as a monument to all who were lost and may the memory of them never fade.”

Raw survival instinct brought Martunis through the nightmare of a day that started with a fun game of football and ended in the deaths of his closest relatives.

The young boy passed out several times after the tsunami hit his family’s vehicle.

“When I woke up, I found myself on a mattress. As the mattress started to sink, I grabbed onto a school bench, but that also sank. Then I saw a coconut, and I hugged it like hugging a football until I climbed onto another mattress. Suddenly, I was stuck in a tree,” he said.

In the weeks that followed, he showed fortitude beyond his years by drinking puddle water and scavenging for food to stay alive.

When he was found by a British TV crew filming with local fishermen, he was emaciated and badly bitten by mosquitoes.

Martunis was taken to Save the Children, who helped over 140,000 people, including over 70,000 children, in the aftermath of the tsunami.

“When I first saw my father, I immediately asked where my mother and sisters were. My father told me they had passed away, and I cried as I embraced him,” he said.

On the 20th anniversary of the tragedy that stole his family, he told the aid agency he was focussed on the future.

“Moving forward, I hope I can become a successful and helpful person in whatever field. I trust that God’s plans are always beautiful.”