Sri Lanka's tour of New Zealand has been put on hold for five days after devastating tsunami waves killed almost 4,900 people in the country, the Sri Lankan cricket board said on Monday.

It added that all matches, whether international or domestic, would be postponed in recognition of a five-day period of national mourning in Sri Lanka.

"Sri Lanka Cricket has reached agreement with New Zealand Cricket to reschedule the rest of the one-day internationals and test matches and the revised dates will be notified later," the board said in a statement after an emergency meeting in Colombo.

Sri Lanka players and team officials met earlier on Monday to discuss the tour after the world's biggest earthquake in 40 years killed more than 15,500 people across southern Asia.

None of the Sri Lanka players had lost family members but the mothers of two unidentified players had been injured, team manager Brendon Kuruppu said.

"You cannot really assess the situation right now, it's something you cannot really imagine," he told reporters in the New Zealand city of Napier.

"Cricket is not the thing in our minds right at the moment," Kuruppu added.

Sri Lanka played New Zealand in the first of five scheduled one-day international matches on Sunday.

New Zealand won the match in Auckland by seven wickets with the second scheduled for Napier on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka and New Zealand are also set to play two tests, in Hamilton from January 15-19 and Wellington from January 22-26.