Covid 19 deaths toll is 14,852 as of 24.12.2021 from 27.01.2020, the first Coronavirus case recorded in Sri Lanka. However, the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami has killed more than 35,000 people in Sri Lanka within just one hour. Sadly 40% of them were children. If you are traveling along the Colombo- Galle A2 highway don’t forget to pay your tribute to the memorial of Tsunami victims at Peraliya near Hikkaduwa.

The standing Buddha statue at Peraliya Tsunami memorial is a replica of the Bamiyan Buddha statue, the 6th century Buddha statue in Afghanistan destroyed by the extremist. The height of the Buddha statue is equal to the height of the wave that hit this area. You also not forget to visit the Tsunami museum near the Buddha statue where you can see the preserved memories of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, able to know what has actually happened on that day and educate on Tsunami. Though it is a beautiful place to visit you will definitely feel the grief and sadness behind it and how this beautiful island nation suffered from that tragedy.

According to Sri Lanka, it is on 26th December 2004. The time is 6.59 am. There is an earthquake that occurred 10km deep under the sea to the side of the western coast of northern Sumatra island in Indonesia. That is 1,600 km far from the east coast of Sri Lanka. This powerful earthquake has recorded a magnitude of 9.1 on the Richter Scale. As a result of this underwater earthquake, a series of tsunami waves started from the epi-centre and travel forcefully towards the shorelines of the countries of the Indian Ocean including Indonesia, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Maldives Islands, Andaman-Nicobar Islands and Sri Lanka. The waves traveled up to 800 kilometres per hour speed. However, that can’t observe or clearly visible on the surface of the sea. 

The first Tsunami waves arrived at the east coast of Sri Lanka between 8:30 to 8:45 am followed by the second waves between 8:50 to 9:15 am. The south and the west coasts were hit by the first waves at 9:15 to 9:45, and the second or the largest wave arrived at 9:50 to 10:30.

When these waves reached the shore where the sea bed is shallow the speed of the waves gets depressed and due to this friction waves reach up to several meters in height. When this happened the force of the waves find suitable places to exert its force. As a result of that Tsunami waves intruded on the land and caused the worst devastation by their strong blow.

The east coast and the south coast were the most affected areas in Sri Lanka. is the highly affected area. The villages in the 6.4 km section of beach in Kalmunai area in east coast was totally disappeared without anything to trace. It is estimated that around 10,000 persons were killed in this area. More than 4,000 were dead in the historical port city of Galle. Around 3,000 people were killed in Mullaittavu and surrounding fishing villages in the northeast of Sri Lanka.

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