Sri Lankans commemorate 15th anniversary of Boxing Day Tsunami
December 26, 2019Today marks the 15th anniversary since the Boxing Day Tsunami devastated the coastal regions of the island in 2004. In remembrance of the victims of the Tsunami disaster, the National Safety Day was commemorated with the observing of two-minute silence and religious activities across 25 districts of the country, today (26).
People all over the island including all state and private sector institutions joined in to commemorate the victims of this natural calamity, which struck the island nation on a Sunday morning and observed a two-minute silence from 9.25am to 9.27am.
The main commemorative ceremony of the National Safety Day was held at 9.00 am near the Tsunami memorial in Peraliya, where a train packed with passengers was washed away by the Tsunami waves. The event was conducted by the Director General of the Disaster Management Center with the participation of the security forces, police and civilians.
According to Disaster Management Center (DMC) sources, commemorative events, religious observances and public awareness programmes have also being organized to be conducted today by the regional centres of the DMC in 25 Districts of the Country.
The first wave of the tsunami struck the coastal areas of Sri Lanka on December 26, 2004 at around 8 am. The 9.2-magnitude earthquake in the Indonesian island of Sumatra, triggered the Tsunami that hit Sri Lanka and a number of countries in the region. Sri Lanka was one of the worst hit countries with more than thirty-five thousand lives being lost and tens of millions dollar worth property destroyed.