>> december 26th, 2004.

there's a massive tsunami that claims 220,000 victims. the indonesian province bore the brunt. 170,000 people were reported dead or missing and 400,000 became refugees. >> they live in the province's capitol. their house was washed away by the tsunami and three of their children perished. >> translator: a few months ago i saw on tv a story about a family whose children were finally returned to them nine years after the tsunami. hearing that gave me a glimmer of hope. it suddenly brought back memories of our own children. that they could still be alive out there. they could still come home.

i know they will. >> this is the resting place of close to 50,000 victims. and a memorial is an inscription from the koran. [ speaking foreign language ] >> they had been fighting the indonesian army but soon after the tsunami the two sides agreed to a peace settlement in order to rebuild. the war was finally over. now they face the tenth anniversary of the tsunami. one of history's most tragic disasters. what do people there feel? what future do they see for themselves?

december, 2014. our film crew visits the city of banda aceh. along the streets there are signs announcing a memorial service for the tenth anniversary of the tsunami. mosques are decorated with banners showing photos of the destruction. the banners mourn victims of the tsunami as martyrs that have gone to heaven. this up here is known as the boat house. a fishing boat was carried inland by the tsunami and deposited atop a two-story house. it was kept as is as a reminder. now it's a popular site seeing spot. guides lead tours of the boat house for visitors.

[ speaking foreign language ] >> in banda aceh the quake and tsunami claimed a quarter of the population. now ten years later the city's population is 250,000 greater than the pretsunami level. near the shoreline of the straight just west of central banda aceh is the village that the tsunami completely devastated. of the 1200 people living here, 1,000 lost their lives in the disaster.

today it's home to 120 people. many residents did not return to the village. some returned but then left again for fear of another tsunami. this home belongs to a family of tsunami survivors. >> we ahe lost three children ie tsunami. he lives with his wife susilowati. in the aftermath of the tsunami an indonesian tv station filmed

the two. when the quake hit, she was visiting her family home on the island of java. he was attending to his jewelry stall at the local market. three of their children were at home when the tsunami came. [ speaking foreign language ] [ speaking foreign language ]

>> not a single keepsake of their children was left behind. >> these are our children that we lost in the tsunami. >> these photos came from relatives and friends. >> only recently have i been able to bring myself to look at the photos. for a long time i was too afraid. >> their older son was a university student. their daughter had just graduated from high school. and their younger son was in his second year of junior high school. >> i don't feel any anger. i just feel regret. i asked my children if they

wanted to go to the stall with me but they said it's sunday so we want to watch tv. they stayed home. at the shop i felt a terrible shaking. a stream of muddy water rushed in. i prayed for my children to be alive. i tried to get home but people were screaming nothing is left. in the end, all i could do was flee. >> just remembering makes me feel so distressed. our children were so obedient and caring and they were on the cusp of starting their own adult lives. many times i prayed gratefully to god for giving us such wonderful children. they would care for us in our old age. but god had a different plan for

them. >> it's hard to believe that ten years have passed. >> there is a sign board in front of lukman's house. before the tsunami he ran a jewelry stall in the city market with two friends. he is a craftsman who makes rings, bracelets and other jewelry. today he still does work for customers he has known for decades. >> i can do anything. rings and bracelets of course. but also eyeglass repair and more. and i do a lot of different things. i make about $80 a month.

>> his income before the tsunami was three or four times greater. >> the money and products in our warehouse were all lost when the tsunami came. all gone. in part, yes. we lost some to the tsunami. but thieves took the rest. >> he lost three children and almost everything he had. many others here lost family members, homes, livelihoods. whole communities were destroyed. this is a mosque he attends. it was the only building in the area left standing. a refugee camp was set up here

by the indonesian military and international mgos. here she is about two months after the tsunami. while living in the camp she searched for her children. >> from a year to three years after, that was the hardest time. during the first year, we still had some hope. i was absolutely sure that my children would be found. i thought they might have lost their memory but that they would recover and eventually come home. but after three years, i started to feel that they musteally be dead. it started teel lik all hope that was the most difficult time. >> soon after starting life in the camp, lukman made a

discovery that gave him some comfort. a guitar. he had played guitar in his student days but had barely touched one since he began his career. ♪ >> it was just lying there near the camp. maybe it was washed up there by the tsunami. all kinds of things have been scattered everywhere. i didn't know whose guitar it was but i started pyingt even though it was broken. i kept playing. it gave me some hope. >> lukman formed a band with other music lovers from the camp and put on events and charity concerts there. he wrote original songs about memories of his children and the tsunami.

as he recovered other band members went back to work and the group broke up but he continued performing. ♪ ♪ >> he wrote this song based on his memories of his children as babies. it's called mother's kindness.

♪ >> making music became a way to gradually move forward with his wife. after the disaster, emergency relief poured into aceh but the province faced a serious obstacle to progress.

a 30 year civil war that waged between the indonesian army and guerrillas seeking independence for aceh. [ speaking foreign language ] >> the free aceh movement known by gam was founded in december 1976. it had been fighting the government for more than a generation. in may 2003, t indonesian government declared marshall law in aceh and forbade visits by foreigners and adopted more aggressive tactics and had interrogations in villages. there was a spade of abductions blamed on both sides. >> in those mountains and the military was closing in on them. we were too afraid to even go outside. we stayed like prisoners in our homes. barely daring to breathe.

>> my husband was mistaken for a gam member and arrested. i couldn't stop shaking. >> the tsunami changed everything. they agreed reconstruction was the highest priority and signed a peace treaty in august 2005. gam disarmed and the long civil war was over. >> aceh finally had peace. >> if it weren't for the tsunami the war would still be going. >> however, in banda aceh former guerrilla soldiers and families still l protest frequently agait the government. there's rising discontent over promises in the peace treaty they say have not been fulfilled. this village was once a

battleground. many residents suffered losses in the civil war. >> the government has still not fulfilled guarantees it made in the peace treaty. to give one example, it said that we would receive compensation within three months. but we never received anything. >> residents of towns that were barely affected have already been compensated. but even now nothing has come to our village. >> if the government breaks it's promises, we won't see any economic development. and that will mean that five or ten years from now the same problems that aceh had in the gam era will come back. >> this government agency handles compensation claims from the civil war. >> we must provide economic support to the soldiers from both sides as well as 15,000 people who suffered losses in

the civil war. foremost among these victims are parents that lost children, wives that lost husbands, and families with members that were abducted and never found. the government must spare no efforts to carry out this initiative. >> december 26th, 2014, at a plaza in the center of ban banda aceh the ceremony for the ten year memorial of the tsunami is being held. after prayers are offered for the victims, guests from various nations are awarded metals by the vice president of indonesia and the government of aceh. 53 countries and regions are are honored. the flags of these countries are waved by the children of aceh.

the message to the world is that aceh is back on its feet and ready to take the next step forward. [ speaking foreign language ] >> the afternoon of that same day, she prepares to go out taking along the photos of her children from the wall. every year on december 26th, the two go to the same place.

since her time in the refugee camp ten years ago she has rarely ventured outside the house. this is her first excursion in some time. the two of them are headed to a mass grave for tsunami victims. this is the largest of five mass graves in and around banda aceh. beneath this vacant lot which is not marked with a single grave marker rest 46,718 of the deceased.

it is customary no scatter flower pedals on graves. [ speaking foreign language ] >> i felt my children's presence. they were saying, thank you,

father. they were saying that. this is where my children rest. >> i still believe even after ten years, i believe at least one of them will come home to us. i won't give up hope. i simply won't. >> recently a girl who went missing in the tsunami, then aged four, was reunited with with her parents after 9.5 years. it was headline news in indonesia. many survivors cling to hope in the same way. this beach was near a conflict zone in the war between the military and the guerrillas. it was once a no-go zone even

for locals. now you can see foreign tourists here. 24 hour caves have sprouted up in banda aceh. they draw young people with different values and ideas from their parents. this is the design firm established by a member of the posttsunami generation. the office buzzes with the conversation of employees in their 20s heading up the company which has sales of $150,000 per year. usman, 32. he designed the logo for the tsunami ten year memorial ceremony. >> here's the conceptment this represents the massive tsunami striking aceh but over here we

get a sense of the people of aceh rising back up. the message i wanted to express was that people can get back on their feet even after the worst kind of disaster. >> with the ten year memorial ceremony completed they're on to a new project for aceh. charming banda aceh. working with the city's tourism bureau it aims to promote aceh as a tourist destination. >> why the english word charming? because the target for the campaign is foreigners. the people of aceh are trying hard every day to live the right way as good muslims. we want people in other countries to know that. and we also want people in aceh to become even more charming. that's the campaign.

>> he drives to his home. his monthly income is about 500 dollars. six times the average in banda aceh. he bought this house a month ago for $35,000. he lives here with his wife and two children. today his wife's mother is visiting. he is very busy with work but when he's at home he tries to spend as much time as he can playing with his kids.

[ speaking foreign language ] >> for ten years they have lived with the tragedy of losing their children. today he is hard at work as usual. he is repairing eyeglass frames. he charges $2 a pair. meanwhile, she is making handicrafts. she strings the beads seeming to be deep in thought. >> i still can't believe that all these things could have really happened.

i don't know if it's real or a dream. sometimes i pinch myself on the arm to check whether i am really in the living world. to this day, i can't believe it's true. >> i have just tried to keep myself busy, repairing glasses, making rings, actively taking part in local events and before i know it another month has passed. ten years went by in a flash. and so as the 11th year after the disaster begins, life goes on for the two of them.

♪ hello there. welcome to "newsline." it's thursday, february 12th, i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. u.s. president barack obama says he's determined to take on islamic state. he called the group a grave threat to the national security of the united states and its allies, and he's asked congress to formally authorize military force against the militants. >> this resolution strikes the necessary balance by giving us the flexibility we need for unforeseen circumstances. for example, if we had actionable intelligence about a gathering of isil leaders, and