Thousands of children have been tragic victims of the Asian tsunami, but here's an amazing tsunami survival story: a young girl who saved a beach full of people.
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.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.
Related: children's literature blog Book Moot refers us to not one but two works that deal with children facing tsunamis: Peg Kehret's Escaping the Giant Wave, and The Big Wave by Nobel Prize winner Pearl S. Buck.
UPDATE: In India, a family dog was a hero as well. Nicely done.
"Run away!" her husband screamed from a rooftop after he spotted the colossal waves. The command was simple, but it presented Sangeeta with a dilemma: She had three sons, and only two arms.Posted by Alan at January 3, 2005 12:06 PMShe grabbed the youngest two and ran — figuring the oldest, 7-year-old Dinakaran, had the best chance of outrunning the tsunami churning toward her home. But Dinakaran didn't follow. He headed for the safest place he knew, the small family hut just 40 yards from the seashore.
Sangeeta thought she would never see him again. The family dog saw to it that she did. While water lapped at Sangeeta's heels as she rushed up the hill, the scruffy yellow dog named Selvakumar ducked into the hut after Dinakaran.
Nipping and nudging, he did everything in his canine power to get the boy up the hill.Dinakaran credits the dog with saving his life. "That dog grabbed me by the collar of my shirt," the boy said from under some trees at Pondicherry University, where the family is waiting for relief. "He dragged me out."