Survival surfing: Indonesians riding the waves to beat tsunami trauma

Surfboard tucked under his arm, Dery Setyawan sprints into the crashing waves.

It is not just a physical challenge but an emotional one -- most of his family and friends were swept to their deaths when a tsunami hit these shores 15 years ago.

His hometown of Lampuuk was almost destroyed entirely, but despite his devastating loss, the father-of-two sees the water as a way to heal.

"Surfing has been the best cure for my tsunami trauma. When I am on the waves, all my fears are gone and I can embrace the past and be at peace with it," he says.

On December 26, 2004, a monstrous 9.3 magnitude quake struck undersea off the coast of Sumatra. It sparked a tsunami nearly 100 feet (30 metres) high that killed more than 220,000 across a string of Indian Ocean countries, including Thailand, Sri Lanka and India.

Reaching as far as East Africa, the tsunami unleashed energy equivalent to 23,000 of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima -- and is considered among the deadliest natural disasters in ...