Banda Aceh, Indonesia (CNN) -- Visitors shuttle in and out of a state-of-the-art hospital in an Indonesian town once devastated by towering tsunami waves five years ago, while in nearby Thailand backpackers dance to music in bars and tourists lodge in a hotel that had been demolished in the Boxing Day disaster. Over in India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives -- all hit by the waters that claimed the lives of some 245,000 people in 14 nations on December 26, 2004 -- homes, schools and roads have been rebuilt, and livelihoods reclaimed. The road to recovery in the Indian Ocean countries battered by the tsunami, which washed away entire communities, created nearly $10 billion in damage and caused more casualties than any other tsunami in recorded history, has been steady despite some challenges, according to the United Nations and local officials.
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Tsunami claims 245,000 people on December 26, 2004
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Rebuilding steady, though troubles with construction, land rights
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U.N.: $10 billion in damage: $13.5 billion in aid received
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On CNN International: "Tsunami 5" (all times GMT): December 26: 1430, 2030  December 27: 0930  December 28: 1330, 1730
Most homes have been rebuilt in the @placeholder and in Sri Lanka, a majority of the lost infrastructure -- such as the 105,000 homes destroyed or damaged in the tsunami -- has been rebuilt.