The Tsunami Summary In English
Introduction
This part gives us some important and inspiring incidents. These occurred when tsunami hit some parts of India. The stories are from Andaman and Nicobar islands.
Unfortunate Ignesious
The first story is about Ignesious. His wife woke him up at 6 a.m. sensing an earthquake. Ignesious put the television on the ground to save it from the quake. Then all the members of the family rushed out. When the tremors stopped, they saw the sea rising. This caused them confusion. They ran but in opposite directions. His wife was swept away. Her two children along with her father and brother were also lost. Thus Ignesious lost his wife, two children, his father-in-law and his brother-in-law in the tsunami.
Brave Sanjeev
Sanjeev was a policeman. He managed to save himself, his wife and his baby daughter. Then he heard the cries for help. These were from John’s wife. John was the guest house cook. Sanjeev jumped into the water to save her. They both were swept away and drowned.
Fortunate Meghna
Meghna was 13 years old. She was swept away along with her parents and seventy-seven other people. She held on to a wooden door and kept floating on it for two days. She was brought to the shore by a wave and saved.
Tragedy of Almas
Almas was ten years old. The family was sleeping but her father had woken up. He saw the water receding after the tremors. He knew it would come back with great force. He woke everyone trying to rush to a safer place. As they ran his father fell down. Almas’s father rushed to help him. Then came a big wave and swept them both away. Her mother and aunts were washed away too. They were swept away with the tree they were holding on to.
A Log of Wood
Almas saw a log of wood floating. She climbed on to it. Then she fainted. She woke up in a hospital in Kamorta.
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Intelligent Tilly
This is a story from Thailand.
Tilly’s family had come to Thailand from England to celebrate Christmas. It was December 26. She was standing with her family on the beach. Tilly and her mother Penny Smith both saw the water swelling. The beach was getting smaller and smaller every moment. They saw the sea slowly rise and start to foams. Tilly saw the sea making whirlpools.
Bad Signs
Tilly’s mother was not alarmed by these signs. Tilly remembered the video that her geography teacher had shown in the class two weeks before. It occurred to her that these were the sure signs of tsunami. She screamed and asked her family to go off the beach. The mother did not sense anything terrible. She, however, felt that her daughter must be right.
Tilly the Saviour
Tilly’s parents took her and her sister to the swimming pool at the hotel. Many others also left the beach with them, “Then it was as if the entire sea had come after them.” The family took refuge in the third floor of the hotel. The building withstood the force of the tsunami. If they had stayed on the beach, they I would have been dead.
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The Animal Sense
Some people believe that animals possess a sixth sense. Tsunami killed 1,50,000 people but only a few animals died. In Yala National Park in Sri Lanka sixty visitors were washed away but only two animals died. In the same Park people had observed three elephants run away from the beach an hour before the tsunami hit. A man on the coast near Galle in Sri Lanka had two dogs. On that fatal day of tsunami they refused to go to the beach with their master. So the master too stayed back. Thus the dogs had saved his master.
Comprehension Check
Page No: 27
Say whether the following are true or false.
1. Ignesious lost his wife, two children, his father-in law, and his brother-in-law in the tsunami.
2. Sanjeev made it to safety after the tsunami.
3. Meghna was saved by a relief helicopter.
4. Almas's father realised that a tsunami was going to hit the island.
5. Her mother and aunts were washed away with the tree that they were holding on to.
Answer
1.True
2.False
Sanjeev was swept away when he jumped into the water to rescue the wife of the guesthouse cook.
3.False
Meghna saw relief helicopters overhead, but they did not see her. She was brought to the shore by a wave.
4.True
5.True
Page No: 28-29
Answer the following in a phrase or sentence.
1. Why did Tilly's family come to Thailand?
2. What were the warning signs that both Tilly and her mother saw?
3. Do you think Tilly's mother was alarmed by them?
4. Where had Tilly seen the sea behaving in the same strange fashion?
5. Where did the Smith family and the others on the beach go to escape from the tsunami?
6. How do you think her geography teacher felt when he heard about what Tilly had done in Phuket?
Answer
1. Tilly's family came to Thailand to celebrate Christmas.
2. Tilly’s mother saw that the water was swelling and the beach was getting smaller and smaller. And Tilly saw that the sea was slowly rising, bubbling and forming a whirlpool.
3. Tilly's mother could not understand what was happening and only realised that it was serious when Tilly got frightened and mentioned what a Tsunami was.
4. Tilly had seen the sea behaving in the same strange fashion in a video of tsunami which was shown in her class by her geography teacher.
5. The Smith family and the others on the beach took refuge on the third floor of a hotel.
6. Her geography teacher felt very happy because her student and geography lesson saved many people from tsunami waves.
Page No: 30
Answer using a phrase or a sentence.
1. In the tsunami 150,000 people died. How many animals died?
2. How many people and animals died in Yala National Park?
3. What do people say about the elephants of Yala National Park?
4. What did the dogs in Galle do?
Answer
1. Although no data is given in the story, it says the number of dead animals was far less compared to human casualties.
2. Sixty visitors and only two water buffaloes died at the Yala National Park.
3. The people at the Yala National Park had seen three elephants running away from the Patanangala beach about an hour before the tsunami hit.
4. The dogs refused to go for their daily run on the beach.
Working with Text
Discuss the following questions in class. Then write your own answer.
1. When he felt the earthquake, do you think Ignesious immediately worked about a tsunami? Give reasons of your answer. Which sentence in the text tells you that the Ignesious family did not have any time to discuss and plan their course of action after the tsunami struck?
Answer
No, when he felt the earthquake, Ignesious did not think about the tsunami. He thought only about the tremors. That was why he took his television off the table and put it on the ground. In fact the Ignesious family did not have any time to discuss and plan their course of action after tsunami struck. That was why there was only chaos and confusion. The following tells it clearly: “In the chaos and confusion, two of his children caught hold of the hands of their mother’s father and mother’s brother and rushed in the opposite directions.”
Harshitkumar
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