In conjunction with the National Safety Day, the commemoration programme of the Tsunami victims was held yesterday (26) morning in front of Thelwatta Paraliya Tsunami Memorial.
Southern Province Governor Willy Gamage and State Minister of Defense Pramitha Bandara participated in the event. Commemorating the train accident that took place in Thalwatta on 2004 tsunami day morning, the people including the Deputy General Manager of Railways, N. K Indikolage, came to the Tsunami Memorial and paid their respects.
The major disaster occurred when the southbound Queen of the Sea (Samudra Devi) train plying along the coastal rail line with around 1500 passengers onboard was washed away by the giant killer waves near the Peraliya area in Hikkaduwa killing all but a few passengers. Galle District Secretary Shanta Weerasinghe, Director General of National Disaster Management Center Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe, Peoples’ representatives of Local Government Institutions including many state officials were present on the occasion.On the occasion, educational equipment was also distributed among 500 school-children by the Singapore ‘Maha Karuna’ Buddhist Association. The country yesterday remembered the victims of the disaster with a nation-wide two minute silence from 9:25 a.m. to 9:27 a.m.The Tsunami triggered by the Indian Ocean earthquake in Indonesia struck 13 out of 14 coastal districts in Sri Lanka.
The eastern and the southern coastal areas were the most affected, which according to statistics, killed 35,322 people and rendered over 500,000 homeless. Another 5,000 went missing.The Tsunami affected 502,456 people from 235,145 families in 34 Divisional Secretariat Divisions. The social, economic, cultural and environmental damage caused is enormous.
