Solemn memorial for the tsunami dead
[December 31, 2004 - 11.30 GMT]

Sri Lanka mourned its dead today in a solemn ceremony attended by national and religious leaders. The last day of 2004 was declared a Day of National Mourning by the President on Tuesday 28th. The death toll in Sunday’s tragedy now stands at over 27,500 and those still missing number 4,832.

The moving multi religious ceremony was to invoke courage and hope to a people battered by an unprecedented catastrophe. The sports stadium in down town Colombo was full of people from all walks of life clad in white. The congregation held up lit candles while reading out a pledge to unite and to rebuild the shattered lives of their fellow citizens.

Joining them was the President flanked by the Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. All religious leaders who spoke called for unity. Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said since the moment the killer waves devastated our country there has been a rare sense brotherhood among our people which he said should continue. The President was philosophical and said the mighty forces of Mother Nature have humbled all of us and all the great things that we humans believe that we can achieve.

The President said this land belongs to all of us, each one of us, in the same way with the same privilege to use it with care. She lamented “The tsunami has devastated our land with relentless indifference to regions, provinces, ethnicities and religions and all other man-made frontiers. We have been left in the same devastation in the West, in the south, in the East and in the North.”

 PRINT THIS STORY

Contact Information: Send mail to gosl@presidentsl.org with questions or comments about this web site. 
Last Updated Date: December 31, 2004 - 11:30 GMT