Girl used school lesson to save people from Tsunami

[scarlett1]

I hope this isn't a repeat

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050103/od_uk_nm/oukoe_quake_briton_girl

Mon Jan 3,12:18 AM ET


LONDON (Reuters) - A 10-year-old British girl saved 100 other tourists from the Asian tsunami having warned them a giant mass of water was on its way after learning about the phenomenon weeks earlier at school.
"I was on the beach and the water started to go funny," Tilly Smith told the Sun at the weekend from Phuket, Thailand.

"There were bubbles and the tide went out all of a sudden. I recognised what was happening and had a feeling there was going to be a tsunami. I told mummy."
While other holidaymakers stood and stared as the disappearing waters left boats and fish stranded on the sands, Tilly recognised the danger signs because she had done a school project on giant waves caused by underwater earthquakes.

Quick action by Tilly's mother and Thai hotel staff meant Maikhao beach was quickly cleared, just minutes before a huge wave crashed ashore. The beach was one of the few on the Thai island of Phuket where no-one was killed.

[Squatch]

1. Sweet!

[Verve]

That's a great story! Educating everyone on the signs of a Tsunami

is going to be key in preventing deaths next time around! NPR said that there is a 5 to 20 minute gap on the signs and the actual event. If only more people had known!!!

[scarlett1]

3. I guess in the 5-20 minutes the animals ran and saved themselves

What we can learn from the Beasts and the Children.
"Bless the Beasts and the Children."

[NewYorkerfromMass]

4. Story about elephants saving lives

KHAO LAK, Thailand (Reuters) - Agitated elephants felt the tsunami coming, and their sensitivity saved about a dozen foreign tourists from the fate of thousands killed by the giant waves.

"I was surprised because the elephants had never cried before," mahout Dang Salangam said on Sunday on Khao Lak beach at the eight-elephant business offering rides to tourists.

The elephants started trumpeting -- in a way Dang, 36, and his wife Kulada, 24, said could only be described as crying -- at first light, about the time an earthquake measured at a magnitude of 9.0 cracked open the sea bed off Indonesia's Sumatra island.

The elephants soon calmed down. But they started wailing again about an hour later and this time they could not be comforted despite their mahouts' attempts at reassurance....

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&e=17&u=/nm/quake_thailand_elephants_dc

[demnan]

2. Who says you don't learn things of practical value in school!

n/t

[DinahMoeHum]

5. It's probably required learning in Hawaiian and Japanese schools !!

their lands having had tragic experiences with tsunamis in the past.

:think: