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In memorial – families of loved ones remember lives lost
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Remembrance events at Peraliya. Pic by Pradeep Pathirana
Ajith Nishantha
A moment of silence was observed nationwide on Thursday from 9:25 am to 9:27 a.m. in remembrance of the lives that were lost to the tsunami.
A commemorative ceremony was held at the Disaster Management Centre in the presence of Deputy Minister of Defence Major General Aruna Jayasekara (Retd.) and Defence Secretary Air Vice Marshal Sampath Thuyacontha (Retd.) and other
senior officials.
The Railway Department also continued its traditional tribute by rail with Train No. 50 in honour of the victims who died in Peraliya, where the waves overturned a train with over 1000 people that fateful Sunday morning. “The train used to run from Colombo to Matara, and now it goes all the way to Beliatta,” said an official from the department. The train leaves Maradana at 6:30 a.m. and stops at Peraliya for the tribute.
Roshan Waduthanthri
“We have the remembrance event at the Peraliya Tsunami Memorial every year,” said Peraliya resident Roshan Waduthanthri. He said this year they were joined by railway officials in their traditional tribute where a guard, engine driver, and some staff from the department arrived at the Peraliya station, picking up relatives and families of those who lost their lives along the way. “Relatives from other areas also come and this time we also had school children join in the floral tribute-laying event.” In addition religious were also conducted. Volunteers and donors who are involved in awareness-raising programmes for disaster preparedness are also honoured.
Further south in Galle, more relatives of victims gathered at the tsunami cemetery in Kurunduwatte, where a clock monument showing the time 9.25 a.m. stands as a memorial of the lives lost. “We go every year to light some candles and place flowers at the graves,” said 43-year-old survivor Ajith Nishantha. He noted that the gathering continues despite a factory being put up close to the land with the graves. “They have been kind enough to leave the designated space for the families and the memorial so we are grateful for that.”
After 20 years the engine of the ill-fated train is back on track. Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
Kurunduwatte: Where time stands still. Pix by Priyanka Samaraweera
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