Flags are flying at half-mast and locals have gathered at mass graves as Indonesia's Aceh province marks nine years since it was ravaged by a tsunami that killed 170,000 people.
The province on the northern tip of Sumatra island bore the brunt of the tsunami that devastated the region and affected coastal areas across south and South-East Asia.
"It's been nine years but it feels like it was yesterday," said 50-year-old Makmun Adam, who lost two children and his wife in the tsunami.
"I pray to God that they be given a place in heaven," he said.
Indonesian red-and-white flags will be flown at half-mast for three days to mark the disaster.
The tsunami was triggered by a magnitude-9.3 earthquake off Sumatra and killed an estimated 230,000 people in 13 countries in the Indian Ocean.
