The Sri Lankan government was among several in the region that issued - then withdrew - tsunami warnings in response to Monday night's undersea earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra island.

Two people died in Sri Lanka as people fled the coasts during the alert. A teenager was killed in a road accident and an old women collapsed and died while fleeing in the northeast, the TamilNet Web site reported.

Police spokesman, Rienzie Perera said at least 2,500 policemen were deployed throughout the country during the emergency.

Along the east coast - where most of Sri Lanka's more than 31,000 victims died in the Dec. 26 disaster - blaring sirens on Monday night told residents to evacuate immediately to higher ground. Police later used the same loudspeakers to inform people it was safe to return.

About 4 1/2 hours after the 8.7-magnitude earthquake hit near Indonesia, Sri Lanka called off the alert after deciding that a safe period had passed without a tsunami occurring.

In the northeast, where Tamils who are mostly Hindus live, at several temples priests held special offerings of coconuts and fruits to gods. In other areas, Buddhist monks chanted blessings where Sinhalese, who are mostly Buddhists, live.

``There is tremendous sense of relief here,'' said Batticaloa's Government Agent Velmurrugu Shanmngam. ``There were tremendous fears, but now it is OK.''

Most people who had sought refuge in temples and churches also started returning to their homes from early Tuesday. Published: Tue Mar 29 04:19:01 EST 2005

She blamed certain sections of the government for giving prominence to international non governmental organisations. "I saw silver jeeps with INGO aerials and those people going up and down. But, nothing much was happening from their side. It was the locals who did everything including the burials and they are still carrying on with their work with commitment. The government did not recognise the local non governmental organisations but, gave special treatment to these INGOS" said the Chancellor.

Chancellor Ismail, who is a well respected educationist in the country, said that the psychosocial programmes must be handled by Sri Lankan nationals only. She said "What the people need is love, commitment and quality time with them. It is useless if we cannot give that to them" The Chancellor has rallied around number of people in Colombo to develop eighteen villages in the east. Published: Tue Mar 29 08:01:38 EST 2005

This advisor who attended a conference on terrorism in Madrid recently, as a representative of the Government of Sri Lanka is known to have said at the conference that the world must talk to suicide bombers and terrorists, without alerting the conference on the threat of the air power acquired by the LTTE in recent times.

A top Defence analyst told The Island that this advisors position with regards to the peace process to the President shows that there is a clear conflict of interest. He pointed out that government's recent response to the ISGA clearly shows the connection between this advisor and his close relative who is one of the authors of LTTEs ISGA and his close relative who is a strong LTTE activist. " Is the public, the cabinet and the president aware of these connections, Will such a person get security clearance to work in a such a sensitive post in any other country?" the analyst questioned. Published: Mon Mar 28 21:01:11 EST 2005