Trincomalee remembers Tsunami victims

  An  event to commemorativet  the 9th anniversary of the Tusnamitsunami which affected Sri Lanka on 26 December 2004 was held at the Trincomalee Kinniya Tsunami Monument with the participation of Mayor Dr. Hilmi, North East Chief Prelate Ven Dehiowita Piyadassi Thero, Chairman Trincomalee Ulama Sabha, Former Director Education Upananda Jayaweera and Security Forces and Police and members of all communities. A two-minute silence was observed from 9:25 a.m. to 9:27 a.m. to remember the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.

 In a symbolic gesture of creating awareness among people as regards the disaster mitigation, December 26 of each year was named as “National Safety Day”.

A Tree planting programme, and a donations to 10 Children who lost their parents were also made at the event

The Tsunami which battered Sri Lanka in 2004 had a catastrophic impact on the southern, western, eastern and northern provinces of the country. Nearly two thirds of the country’s coastal belt, were affected by the disaster.  35, 000 lives were lost while 5000 were reported missing and 95,000 others were deprived of their livelihood.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, the government using the lessons and experiences from the tragedy, took action to introduce measures to mitigate the risk of possible future disasters. One of the measures adopted by the government was the passing of the “Disaster Management” Act No 13 of 2005.

In comparison to other Tsunami-hit countries, Sri Lanka was able to restore normalcy in a relatively quicker period of time. Rebuilding activities were carried out by the government in collaboration with NGOs and foreign governments.