Colombo:  Sri Lanka conducted religious ceremonies to mark Tuesday's second anniversary of the tsunami that claimed over 40,000 lives in the country, as people gathered at the seaside to remember those who perished.

The nation observed two minutes of silence to remember those killed in the tsunami and in other natural disasters and the country's conflict with minority Tamil separatist guerrillas.

The main national ceremony was held in the southern port city of Galle, 117 km south of Colombo and one of the hardest-hit towns in the Dec 26, 2004 tragedy that left 226,000 people dead or missing in 12 Indian Ocean countries.

Similar events were held in other coastal areas hit by the tragedy, which displaced more than half a million people in Sri Lanka alone.

Families held individual ceremonies where they believed their loved ones perished or where they believed they were buried in mass graves.

Almost two-thirds of Sri Lanka's coastal areas were hit by the tragedy with more than 114,000 houses, 3,000 hotels, roads and other infrastructure being damaged or destroyed.

Two years after the disaster, 63,000 replacement houses have been built while nearly 48,000 houses are in the process of being completed.

The tragedy was the biggest natural disaster Sri Lanka had experienced, and people affected continue to struggle to recover from the trauma.