The Tsunami catastrophe 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, i.e. 13 administrative districts bore the brunt of the disaster.

Approximately 35, 000 lives were lost while 5000 were reported missing and 95,000 others were deprived of their livelihood.

Sri Lanka this year will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the disaster which struck 13 out of 14 coastal districts in the island.

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” on a proposal made by the then Minister of Disaster Management,  Mahinda Samarasinghe with the approval of the Cabinet.

The Ministry of Disaster Management has made arrangements to commemorate the National Safety Day this year on 26th December under the theme of "Safety Sri Lanka- let us unite to eradicate disasters".(SDF/KH)