For most, Christmas festivities are still in full swing.

But for the families of the 26 Australians who lost their lives in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, the day is a painful reminder of an unprecedented tragedy and one of the deadliest natural disasters this century has ever seen.

Twenty years ago, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean near Indonesia triggered a tsunami which would claim the lives of almost 250,000 people.

It was the deadliest tsunami in known human history, shaking the earth’s crust for a full eight minutes.

About 230,000 people lost their lives in 14 countries across southeast Asia and South Asia, and as far as eastern and southern Africa following the unprecedented disaster.

Nearly two million people were left homeless and 1.7 million displaced, with those living across the coastlines of Indonesia, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka suffering the brunt of the devastation.

The Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh, then and now. Photo: AAP

But for Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese the disaster was also a chance to showcase the tenacity of the human spirit.

“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 in an address on Christmas Day.

“It was in that spirit that we came together as people and as nations to help our cherished friends and neighbours across the region to get back on their feet.

“That spirit is humanity’s greatest strength.”

Boxing Day 2024 would be a moment to remember those who lost their lives and those whose lives changed forever, he added.

“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 … for all of these people, we hold them in our hearts.”

Six-month-old Melina Heppell was one of the victims killed in the tragedy, swept from her dad Peter’s arms on Patong Beach, Thailand.

Ibrahim showing photos of his cousins in Sibueh, Lhoknga Aceh, Indonesia. Photo: AAP

Craig Baxter, a 37-year-old New Zealand-born Queensland resident also died while saving his Thai wife, Maliwan, 28, knowing she couldn’t swim.

Thousands of foreigners who were holidaying in coastal resorts also died with the disaster claiming the lives of 543 Swedes, 539 Germans and 143 Brits.

An estimated $10 billion in damage was inflicted across the region in less than 24 hours prompting the Australian government to make a commitment of $1 billion over 10 years.

-AAP