In hard-hit port, residents seek to mend broken lives
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HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka -- For generations, this southern port town has heralded the year's passing with firecrackers and all-night celebrations. But as the sun set yesterday, the air was heavy with despair: Sri Lanka was mourning its tsunami victims.
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PALLAI, Sri Lanka  - Housewife Viyarseeli  Nadarajahlingam's whole life revolved around her six children  and helping her husband mend his fishing nets on an idyllic  white sand beach at Sri Lanka's northern tip.
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For many people along India's Tamil Nadu coast, stepping into a boat is key to getting back on their feet.
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By The Stamford Advocate, Conn.  Dec. 19--It is undeniable that setbacks occur in efforts to promote a healthy Long Island Sound environment. But experience has shown that the dedication of people and resources can help this vital resource continue to rebound and improve.
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Almost a month after the tsunami hit, huge numbers of bodies are still being found, and the recovery effort is becoming more complex each day.
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Butchers, shop keepers and restaurant owners in this devastated city opened for business on Thursday, while a traditional marketplace bustled, as tsunami survivors defiantly began to rebuild their lives.
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Thousands of people in Louisiana and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast are struggling to rebuild their lives. In some areas, the population and economy are growing, but in others, serious issues remain such as battered infrastructure and violent crime.
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Three weeks after the Asian tsunami, people near and far paused to remember the dead but hundreds of bodies rotting by the sea showed how much still has to be done to make life bearable for survivors.
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Flood victims in the worst-hit parts of the country are so severely traumatised some consider suicide, it is claimed.
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More than a week after floods devastated this impoverished Haitian city, aid workers were struggling to bring food and clean water to thousands of residents, some still perched on roofs.
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BANDA ACEH, Indonesia  - Markets reopened,  fishermen got new boats and the sea even got a cleanup as  people chipped away at the endless task of undoing the  tsunami's damage.
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As local officials struggled to account for the dead and missing, another challenge began to loom: heading off disease.
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In tsunami-ravaged Banda Aceh, Indonesia, survivors have a gritty determination to start over.
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Residents of poor coastal communities of Nicaragua picked through the wreckages of their homes on Wednesday in the wake of Hurricane Felix.
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Indonesia's idyllic island is slowly recovering from 2002's deadly blast, but for its victims, healing may take longer
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Tsunami survivors were trying to rebuild their shattered lives on Friday as aid agencies scrambled to reach some 5 million people affected by the most wide-reaching natural disaster in living memory.
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For residents of these 10 towns, life can be a death sentence.