VOA慢速英语2014 纪念印尼海啸十周年.doc

VOA慢速英语2014 纪念印尼海啸十周年 AS IT IS 2014-12-27 Asian?Tsunami1?10th Anniversary?纪念印尼海啸十周年 December 26 marks the 10th anniversary of a powerful and deadly earthquake in the eastern Indian Ocean. It was the most powerful quake to hit the area in 40 years. The quake was so forceful it caused the Earth’s?axis2?to move a few centimeters. Scientists measured the quake as a magnitude nine. It caused an ocean wave, or tsunami, so big it destroyed entire?coastal3?communities. The deadly tsunami killed about 220,000 people- one-third of them children. The disaster left nearly 5 million people homeless. The disaster?affected4?at least 12 countries. Indonesia was hardest hit by the tsunami, with more than 160,000 dead. Thousands more were killed in Thailand and Sri Lanka. The tsunami waves traveled as far as Africa. Ten years later, VOA Correspondent Steve Herman reports from Banda Aceh, Indonesia. All across beaches in Aceh, Indonesia, there are monuments,?cemeteries5?and mass graves. One of these monuments marks the nearest point on land to where the massive undersea earthquake struck. A woman named Salmi Hardiyanti lost 23 relatives. Like tens of thousands of other victims, their bodies were never found. “I try to visit every mass grave in Banda Aceh to pray for them.”? Samsul Bahri’s wife was at their home just 20 meters from the beach when the waves hit. She and others near the beach were among the first to die. An aid group rebuilt his house in the same location.? “I can’t afford to live anywhere else. So I had to come back here even though I’m afraid.” Three kilometers from the coast is a monument that shows the force of the tsunami that destroyed a village. This monument is a huge 2,700-ton ship -- 69 meters long and 19 meters wide. This ship was making electricity?offshore6. The second tsunami wave moved the boat five kilometers from its position. It came to rest on top of two homes. At a high school located in the area, only 60 of the 400 students survived the tsunami. A yo