The tsunami tidal wave disaster was Sri Lanka's worst human tragedy, Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga said Friday.

Addressing the country's 57th anniversary celebrations of independence, the president said decades of labor and effort with part of the country's historical heritage had been lost within a few minutes on Dec. 26 tsunami disaster.

Kumaratunga called upon all Sri Lankans to unite in the effort to rebuild the nation and thanked the international community for massive pledges of support towards rebuilding.

The government has been entrusted with the gigantic task of reconstruction within a time frame of one year, she said.

The ceremony which is generally an event with high pomp and pageantry was limited to a low key affair in commemoration of over 30,000 people who died in the disaster.

Whilst the government was celebrating the independence from Britain in 1948, the Tamil Tigers had plans to raise black flags in the north and east claiming that majority Sinhalese community led governments since 1948 are continuing to discriminate the minority Tamils.

Kumaratunga made no reference to the ethnic separatist conflict and efforts to revive the stalled peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels.

All attempts to reach a negotiated settlement since the conflict escalated in the mid 1980s have ended in failure so far.

(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2005)