A two minutes’ silence will be observed island-wide today (26 December) on National Safety Day from 9.25 a.m. to 9.27 a.m. in memory of all who lost their lives in the 2004 tsunami and other natural disasters in Sri Lanka, the Disaster Management Center (DMC) said.

Sri Lanka's Ocean Queen Express became a symbol of the biggest natural disaster to hit the South Asian nation in living memory, when the train was struck by the giant waves of Dec. 26, 2004. About 1,000 people were killed -- both passengers and local residents, who had clambered inside desperately seeking shelter after the first wave hit.

The 9.1 magnitude earthquake induced Tsunami was first felt in the island’s eastern coast before moving south resulting in devastation beyond belief.

People gathered in India and Sri Lanka on Thursday to mark 20 years since the Indian Ocean tsunami struck , killing thousands of people. (AP video shot by Mahesh Kumar and Eranga Jayawardena)