<span style="color: #222222;">The two-minute silence was observed from 9.25 a.m. to 9.27 a.m. local time, the time when massive tsunami waves crashed into Sri Lanka killing over 35 thousand people in 2004. The tsunami was triggered by a 9.1-magnitude earthquake off Indonesia on this day eighteen years ago, with tsunami waves of up to 100 feet slamming into several countries in the region.<br />''<br />''The huge waves mostly hit the northern, southern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka, while some areas in the west suffered minor damages. Sri Lanka has designated the 26th of December as the National Safety Day in remembrance of the tsunami. The government organises programs across the country on the day, especially in the areas worst hit by the disaster.<br />''<br />''Since the 2004 disaster, the South Asian country has installed tsunami warning towers and carried out evacuation drills in order to be better prepared for a similar devastating tsunami. The earthquake was the third-largest ever recorded, the largest in the 21st century and had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between eight and ten minutes.</span><br />