Go Fig

Silence to commemorate tsunami victims
Tue Jan 4, 2005 04:56 PM ET

By Paul Gallagher

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Europeans from Riga to Rome will observe three
minutes of silence tomorrow to commemorate the 150,000 people killed
and contemplate the millions of other lives devastated by the Asian
tsunami.

EU public buildings will fly flags at half mast and governments will
call for three minutes silence at noon to remember the tens of
thousands killed on coastlines around the Indian Ocean by an earthquake
and tsunami on December 26.

Luxembourg, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, has called on
all 25 member states and EU institutions to observe the silence to
"show solidarity and mourn the victims of the disaster", a European
Commission spokesman said.

With rescue workers in Asia racing to get fresh food and water to
millions of tsunami survivors and the death toll around 150,000 people,
many Europeans are expected to take time out at home or at work to pay
their respects to the dead.

"We are only at the beginning of the wave of pain and the long process
of grieving that lies ahead of us," Swedish Prime Minister Goran
Persson said, announcing Sweden's participation.

More than 10,000 foreign tourists, mostly Europeans, are dead, missing
or unaccounted for after the Indian Ocean disaster. Swedes were
particularly hard hit among holidaymakers devastated by the catastrophe
which lashed 13 countries.

Some Italian shops are planning to suspend business around noon on
Wednesday, while Swedish bourse company OMX has called on dealers to
observe the three minutes' silence on the Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn,
Riga and Vilnius bourses.

Other European bourses, including London and Paris, are to follow suit
as a mark of respect for the victims of a tragedy which has shocked
millions around the world, sparking a relief effort backed by public
and government donations.

SOLIDARITY

In Brussels, the EU's executive has invited all its staff to gather
for a commemoration at 11 a.m. on Wednesday at Rond Point Schuman, the
heart of the EU quarter in Brussels. In some countries television and
radio stations are also expected to fall silent.

"It is a great thing to know that the 25 countries of the European
Union will hold hands and shut down long enough so that every one of
its ... people will have time to reflect," said Francesco Storace,
president of Rome's Lazio region.

In the Netherlands, tram, bus and train drivers plan to stop work at
midday to remember the victims of the strongest earthquake in 40 years
and raise money to pay for relief.

"In the three minutes you will see everybody standing still. It will
have an impact on you. You will feel something," said Amsterdam tram
driver Roy Eliazer.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's cabinet will join
diplomats at a ceremony in The Hague while officials have urged
motorists who want to join in the three minutes of silence to pull off
the road to observe it.