Wednesday, January 26 2005 17:23 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Banda Aceh (Indonesia): Mournful silences for the dead were observed today (Jan 26, 2005) as people around the Indian Ocean recalled the day one month ago when tsunami waves crashed ashore, taking families, friends and homes.

But while many looked briefly to the past, others focused on the future, with schools reopening across Aceh, the Indonesian province where most of the 280,000 presumed dead from the disaster lived.

A team of top Indonesian Government Ministers also headed to Finland for talks with Aceh separatist rebels aimed at resolving a long-running conflict that has threatened to disrupt humanitarian efforts in the province.

And in China, Asian officials and scientists put their heads together on ways to establish an early warning system to ensure that if the deadly waves ever return, the horrific death toll from December 26 will not be repeated.

In Sri Lanka, where more than 30,000 people were killed and a million left homeless, a minute of silence was held across the island while television and radio stations went off air at 0936 hrs (IST), the exact moment the waters struck.

Along battered coastlines, thousands of survivors stood among the debris or in relief camps to remember, while in a rare display of solidarity that augurs well for ongoing peace talks, Tiger Tamil rebels declared a day of mourning.