Phuket, Thailand - Quick-thinking 10-year-old Tilly Smith is being hailed as a hero after saving her parents and dozens of fellow vacationers from the deadly tsunami - thanks to a school geography lesson.
Tilly warned the doubting adults at a resort that a massive tidal wave was about to strike - just minutes before the deadly tide rushed in and turned the resort into rubble. Tilly’s family, from Surrey, England, was enjoying a day at Maikhao Beach last Sunday when the sea rushed out and began to bubble.
The adults were curious, but Tilly froze in horror.
“Mummy, we must get off the beach now!” she told her mother. “I think there’s going to be a tsunami.”
The adults didn’t understand until Tilly added the magic words: “A tidal wave.”
Her warning spread like wildfire. Within seconds, the beach was deserted — and it turned out to be one of the only places along the shores of Phuket where no one was killed or seriously injured.
If more people had understood what it means when the tide rushes out like that, many more would have been saved.
Wonderful news. Kudos to Tilly for paying attention in class.
And a slap in the face with a three-day-dead mackerel to both those adults who weren’t paying attention in geography class when they were in school and the reporter (and his editors) who don’t have a clue about what the word “only” means… They need to go back to class if they plan on practicing a craft that includes wordsmithing.
Comment by David — 6 Jan, 2005 @ 08:53
Yep… should have been ‘one of the few’ but I’m afraid that’s one I’ve given up fighting.
‘Decimate’ is yet another that drives me bats. But it has been too long, and too widely, misused to be worth fighting over.
Comment by Kathy K — 6 Jan, 2005 @ 09:53
you are a great kid
Comment by jane — 11 Jan, 2005 @ 21:59