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National commemoration ceremony at Telwatte train disaster site
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Engine of the Samudra Devi. Pix by Rekha Tharanganie
The national tsunami commemoration ceremony will be held near the tsunami memorial at Telwatte in Peraliya at 8.45 am today, while religious ceremonies will be organised by the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) in all districts, DMC Spokesman Pradeep Kodippilli said.
“The people in coastal districts have been trained on disaster preparedness and how to act when a tsunami warning is issued. People travelling to coastal areas are requested to check with weather alerts by downloading the DMC’s Disaster Early Warning network app (DEWN) or log into the Meteorology department or DMC websites,” he said.
The restored tsunami train, which has a wave painted on one of its compartments, will start its special journey at 6.50 a.m. today from Colombo Fort to Beliatta. The tsunami train (M2a 591 Manitoba) missed last year’s commemorative journey due to the pandemic, said K.G.S. Bandara, Chief Engineer (Motive Power) at the Motive Power Sub Department of Sri Lanka Railways.
According to Railway statistics, 1270 passengers travelling on the Matara bound express Samudra Devi were carried away by the killer waves, while 249 villagers who hung on to the train after the first wave, died after being swept away by the second tidal wave. Hundreds of passengers are still missing.
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