‘05 revelry subdued in respect

The United States joined other countries worldwide yesterday in mourning those killed in the earthquake and tsunami in South Asia before ringing in the new year.

In New York, there was a moment of silence in Times Square at 8:15 p.m. to remember the victims — at least 121,000 dead so far and countless injured.

“I think we all have to look in the mirror tonight before we go to bed and recognize just how lucky we are and that not everyone else is so lucky,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday. New York marked its 100th year celebrating New Year’s Eve in Times Square.

Mr. Bloomberg said he believed the revelers could enjoy themselves while also remembering the dead.

“I think human beings are able to handle multiple emotions at the same time,” he said on CBS-TV’s “The Early Show.” “We have to look forward with optimism to next year. You can also at the same time have prayers for those who were lost.”

Many of the revelers said the South Asian tragedy would be on their minds.

“You still have to remember what’s going on in the world because it affects everybody and it should affect the celebration,” said Chris Lawrence, 21, of Newburgh, N.Y.

Outgoing Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, a native New Yorker, was invited to press the button at 11:59 p.m. that sent the 1,000-pound Waterford crystal-covered ball on its final 60-second descent into the new year.

For the first time in 32 years, the celebration took place without Dick Clark, the TV personality-producer who is recovering from a stroke. The daytime talk-show host Regis Philbin filled in for the 75-year-old Mr. Clark on ABC-TV’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.”

In New York, as in recent years, police boats, helicopters, bomb squads and thousands of officers were on duty, and officers armed with radiation detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs patrolled Times Square.

Elsewhere in the world, the New Year’s Eve celebrations were either marked with a similar moment of silence, toned down in scope or replaced with prayers for the dead.

For Sweden’s prime minister, celebrating New Year’s after the Asian tsunami felt “completely wrong.” Paris draped black cloth along a favorite haunt for romantic reveling — the Champs-Elysees.

Even for those far from Asian and African shores where the giant waves killed at least 121,000, the disaster was too overwhelming, too present for a carefree leap into 2005.

In Europe, thousands of families were struggling with the loss of loved ones and friends. The confirmed death tolls for many European countries were in the double digits, but many officials were warning the final tallies would be in the hundreds or even thousands. For Sweden alone, 2,500 tourists were still missing, while Switzerland was waiting to hear from about 700 and the French reported at least 118 disappeared.

“Never has the step into a new year felt heavier,” said Prime Minister Goran Persson, who urged Swedes to light candles in their windows as a vigil. “We should have celebrated with fireworks and festivities. Now that feels completely wrong.”

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