Singapore on Sunday afternoon held a national memorial service for all the tsunami victims across the world.

Addressing the gathering, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong expressed the grief and sympathy Singaporeans shared with all the people who were hit by the earthquake and the following tsunami on Dec. 26 of last year.

"We mourn for those who have died, and we pray for the missing.But we must also help the millions who survived, who need medical treatment, food, shelter and assistance to rebuild their lives. Wehave a collective responsibility to help them at this time of direneed," said Lee.

He noted that Singapore has mounted its largest overseas reliefeffort ever and that Singaporeans responded with an unprecedentedly massive, spontaneous outpouring of compassion and generosity.

"This experience has drawn Singaporeans closer to one another as one nation. This is the Singapore spirit -- a small nation witha big heart," Lee added.

He called on the affected countries to take the lead in the reconstruction process, which will take several years, as the international community were ready to render help.

More than 5000 Singaporeans including President S.R. Nathan, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong turned up in the somber event, and representatives from the tsunami-affected countries were also present.

Religious leaders from nine religions led the prayers.

An alert through Singapore's Public Warning System was sound tomark the beginning of the observance of a one-minute national silence at the end of the service.

On Sunday, the national flags flew at half-mast in the whole island state as a mark of respect of the tsunami victims.

According to the latest update by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday, one more Singaporean has been confirmed dead, which brought the death number to nine. Fifteen others are still missing while the number of the uncontactable has dropped to nine.