Girl, 10, saved hundreds of lives

[DoYouEverWonder]

January 01, 2005

A 10-year-old British schoolgirl saved the lives of hundreds of people in southern Asia by warning them a wall of water was about to strike, after learning about tsunamis in geography class, British media reported today.

Tilly, who has been renamed the "angel of the beach" by the top-selling tabloid The Sun , was holidaying with her family on the Thai island of Phuket when she suddenly grasped what was taking place and alerted her mother.

"Last term Mr Kearney taught us about earthquakes and how they can cause tsunamis," Tilly was quoted as saying by The Sun.

"I was on the beach and the water started to go funny. 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."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11833299%255E1702,00.html


Amazing a 10 year old was able to see the signs and reacted appropriately, thereby savng many lives, while the best monitoring agencies on the planet can only give excuses has to why they all sat on their hands.

[stellanoir]

1. very cool story

Thanks for posting. Thank goodness there are still plenty of educated and intuitive kids in the world to whom grown ups will listen.

[merh]

2. God bless the beast and the children!

:wow:

[NMDemDist2]

3. hubby and I spoke about that the day the disaster hit the news

sad that no one had enough basic science training to realize the signs of a coming tsunami

a 10 year old child, incredible

[Pachamama]

76. No child left behind education that works....

How many of our children are being taught this valuable information?

Amazing story...another good example of the value of education and learning....

[Cha]

4. It's chilling that this little girl was on the Beach

just when the tsunami was taking place and Was able to warn those who were around the "Maikhao beach and a neighbouring hotel"!

Maybe that's the beach where a Dr's(from my town) family(on vacation) from Novia Scotia were spared in the tsunami on Phuket.

[Florida_Geek]

5. left out an important part

"The girl's geography teacher, Andrew Kearney, told the paper he had explained to his class that there was about 10 minutes from the moment the ocean draws out before the tsunami strikes. "

[KittyWampus]

8. That's What Struck Me As Well. If There'd Been Any Warning

the people could've at least been on the lookout for the water suddenly pulling out.

[TahitiNut]

28. Even more significant, if people had the 5th grade EDUCATION ...

... then tens of thousands of lives would've been saved. This story demonstrates the power of an elementary education - where someone actually LEARNED something. The "warning" is given by the very nature of a tsunami, a warning evident to a 10-year-old equipped with a basic education. (If we ignore the 10-minute warning, why sould be blame the absence of a 60-minute warning?)

It's one of the thoughts that has nagged at me. I seriously doubt I'd miss the signs, and I've been puzzled that so many did miss the obvious signs. I'm not talking about the people not in a position to actually see the very rapid preliminary retreat of the water, but of the thousands upon thousands obviously in a position to see it. I'm not getting into a "blame the victim" thing here ... but wondering how it is that we've eroded the practical elements of a basic education so much that people were dumbfounded. Even an 8-year-old in California knows to stand in a doorway during an earthquake. With all the media coverage of this catastrophe, how many people have actually learned that the initial rapid retreat of the water is a telltale signal? Clearly, not many.

Maybe I'm being overly demanding ... that even though we've retreated from nature we're still a part of nature and our education system should incorporate that attitude instead of the mere navel-gazing regurgitation of only what mankind has "accomplished."

[tblue37]

47. Notice that her mother

said she was about to walk down to the beach to look when she saw the water recede. She didn't know what it meant, and it looked interesting, so she was about to move in to get a closer look! And when the child told them they were going to get hit with a tsunami, no one knew what she was talking about until she translated the term into "tidal wave" for them.

In other words, except for this one small child, everyone there was completely ignorant about these things.

I remember learning about such things in grade school science, too (back in the 1950s).

But now all the "people" want teachers to do in school is teach "intelligent design," "fun," and self-esteem. The heck with knowledge. In the US there is an actual war against science education, but it is obvious that education is being dumbed down all over the place, not just here.

[okieinpain]

75. doesn't jab with evolution. can't get in the fundies way, you know.

[porkrind]

55. Remember the guy who

you were debating on another thread who couldn't see any point to having a basic education in science? He called it "trivia". Tsk tsk.

[silverweb]

61. Which thread?

I missed that one, would love to read it.

[regnaD kciN]

67. Don't want to be too picky...

...but not that many school curricula that would constitute a "basic education in science" would include how to spot the signs of a tsunami. Chemistry, biology, and a bit of physics, yes. Practical application of geological and oceanographic principles, probably not.

[girl gone mad]

77. But a tsunami should be covered in geography and physics.

I learned about the physics of tsunamis in HS when we were covering wave theory. Geography is another opportunity to learn about earthquakes and tsunamis. In Texas, we were taught how to react when confronted with a tornado. Children who live near theh ocean could be taught about tsunamis.

[mrbassman03]

85. Yeah, true. I think the whole story is an "oh, that's neat" one...

Instead of a debate over science classes. It's great that this child was taught this information, but we shouldn't insist that this kind of education is mandatory.

[okieinpain]

74. fear factor, american idol, who's your daddy, fox news, cnn, ........

[barb162]

29. good kid plus she used her brain, saved lives

[darkstar]

6. Kick !

Beautiful!

O8)

[bpilgrim]

7. why no gov agency thought to call CNN, AL JAZEERA, BBC, etc is CRIMINAL!

and that non-policy should be changed YESTERDAY.

peace

[DoYouEverWonder]

20. Here's a few clips of official lame excuses

I mean please, in this day and age with instant internet access to almost anywhere, no one could figure out how to get in touch with a few key people? Tell you what, next time I want to attack the US or US interests, I'll make sure to do it during the


Tsunami alert centre unable to help
From correspondents in Los Angeles
December 28, 2004

AN alert centre in Hawaii that warns Pacific countries about approaching tsunamis detected the earthquake that generated killer waves across Asia, but had no way of raising the alarm.

The absence of an alert system in Asia meant the information could not be sent out fast enough to save any of the more than 23,000 lives that were lost in the catastrophe.

?We did what we could to warn Asian nations of the likelihood of a tsunami,? said Charles McCreery of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Honolulu, adding that the centre did not have direct contacts with Indian Ocean nations.


http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11797550%255E1702,00.html


U.S.: Lack of Info Stymied Tsunami Alert

Dec. 30, 2004

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. weather agency didn't have the phone numbers nor staff to alert all Indian Ocean coastal countries when it saw the first signs that tsunamis could be heading their way, its top official said Thursday. He cautioned that the Caribbean and Atlantic also lack an early warning system.

In the face of stern questioning by some in Congress over whether enough was done, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said his agency did all it was responsible for doing in warning 26 countries in the Pacific.

<snip>

Fifteen minutes after Sunday's quake near Sumatra, NOAA fired off a bulletin from Hawaii to 26 Pacific nations that now make up the International Coordination Group for the Tsunami Warning System, alerting them of the quake but saying they faced no threat of a tsunami.

Fifty minutes later, the U.S. agency upgraded the severity of the quake and again said there was no tsunami threat in the Pacific, but identified the possibility of a tsunami near the quake's epicenter in the Indian Ocean.

After nearly another half hour, NOAA contacted emergency officials in Australia as a backstop, knowing they would quickly contact their counterparts in Indonesia. It wasn't until 2 1/2 hours after the quake that NOAA officials learned from Internet news reports that a destructive tsunami had hit Sri Lanka.

http://news.findlaw.com/ap_stories/a/w/1155/12-30-2004/20041230181501_02.html


December 30, 2004

U.S. Knew Of Tsunami, Failed To Issue Warning

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, wants to know why the U.S. government did not notify countries along the Indian Ocean of early indications that a deadly tsunami might be headed their way.

An early warning station in Hawaii, operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, picked up signs that a tsunami was possible on Christmas day.

But the agency did not issue warnings to the 11 countries hit, even though it took up to two hours for the deadly waves to reach them.



http://www.wmtw.com/news/4036700/detail.html


BTW: Long time no see. Hope you're doing well? Happy New Year :hi:


PBWY
DYEW

[TahitiNut]

34. It's noteworthy that the 'excuses' are structured to infer a need for ...

... materialistic 'solutions' ... Big Brother. What this story makes evident is the power of basic knowledge regarding natural forces. Would Cro-Magnon miss it? I doubt humanity would have survived to this day if indigenous peoples were as ignorant of their natural environment as we seem to have become.

I won't discount the advantage humanity has in modifying his environment to meet his survival needs - from fire to cloth to shelter to agriculture. At the same time, even those advantages are unlikely to be realized without a basic understanding of our natural environment.

We'd probably get better "bang for the buck" in societal 'solutions' known even by stone-age humanity: education and understanding of our environment. (We don't need GPSS to know which direction is north.)

[Mist]

86. Memo to the Pacific Tsunami Centre and the US Weather agency:

They've invented this neat thing called a telephone.

[DoYouEverWonder]

89. Not to mention the internet

Just for fun, I timed how long it would take to get a phone number for the government of Sri Lanka. It took exactly one minute.

There is no excuse for any one in an official capacity to not do everything in their power to get the news to the outside world.

You certainly couldn't have warned everybody but heck even one hotel or one small town would have been better than nothing.

[bpilgrim]

9. "Her intuition was enough to raise the alert and prompt the evacuation of

"Her intuition was enough to raise the alert and prompt the evacuation of Phuket's Maikhao beach and a neighbouring hotel before the water came crashing in, saving hundreds of people from death and injury."

intuition my a$$, her EDUCATION i believe a better word for it.

great story though, thanks for sharing :toast:

peace

[DrBB]

11. "I had a feeling"

"I recognised what was happening and had a feeling there was going to be a tsunami. I told mummy."

Her intuition was enough to raise the alert and prompt the evacuation of Phuket's Maikhao beach and a neighbouring hotel before the water came crashing in, saving hundreds of people from death and injury.

Your point would be well taken, but they're obviously just picking up on her own wording as a matter of economy and rhetorical continuity. Perfectly legitimate editorial choice in context.
</nitpicking>

[bpilgrim]

22. from LEARNING about it in class

sorry, but i still feel it's the better word.

:hi:

peace

[KittyWampus]

43. Actually, We Don't Know If She Was Aware Of The Earthquake

which would have caused a tsunami and the consequent rapid retreat of water...

If she was unaware of the earthquake... then the rememberance of facts she'd learned about tsunamis were not definitive.

As per usual, too many point to Inductive Reasoning and forget the importance and fundtion of Deductive Reasoning...

[bpilgrim]

45. huh?

she described connecting the seas behavior to that of a tsunami based on a recent lesson on TSUNAMIS.

that is a CLASSIC example of not only APPLYING what you have learned OUTSIDE the artificial world of the classroom but also DEDUCTIVE REASONING.

:hi:

peace

[KittyWampus]

46. Tsunamis Do Not Just Happen. In Class, She'd Have Learned

tsunami's are caused by earthquakes.

In the absence of knowledge that an earthquake, in fact, DID happen... the young girl's supposition that the quick tidal change was due to an imminenet tsunami was NOT BASED ON INDUCTIVE REASONING ALONE.

She Deduced that a tsunami was imminent even though she didn't have all the pertinent information to make that judgement.

[arikara]

48. But she would have learned

that the warning sign of an oncoming tsunami is that the water recedes quickly. She also would have learned that the earthquake could have been very far away and under the ocean and that she may not have felt it. She had all the information she needed from what she saw.

[KittyWampus]

51. We Don't Know If She Was Aware Of The Precipitant Earthquake...

as I said in my opening post.

And IF she didn't know about the earthquake... then her decuctions weren't based soley on EMPIRICAL FACTS.

[arikara]

56. The point is that it doesn't matter if she knew

about the earthquake, she recognized the signs of the coming tsunami. What does it matter if her "decuctions" are based "soley" on empirical facts?

[ozone_man]

79. Like seeing mare's tails or a mackerel sky,

or how about "red sky in the morning, sailor's warning, red sky at night, sailor's delight".

The signs are often what we learn to go by. Explaining why a red sky in the morning brings bad weather can be complicated and probably region dependent, but it is easy to remember the rhyme. The same goes for a Tsumami.

[allemand]

68. The earthquake was felt all over the region.

For example, even people in Bangkok felt it.

[rox63]

10. A bit of good news after a horrible week

Nice to hear a bit of good news from the horrors happening in South Asia. And a good reason to tell the children in your lives to pay attention in school. :)

[theycanbiteme]

12. Its amazing what EDUCATION can accomplish.

This child was NOT left behind.

[fortyfeetunder]

16. Yes, shows the efficiency of education outside the US

Meanwhile, Johnny in the US is being tested on how to think in class.

[donheld]

25. Because this child was NOT left behind.

Many more were left safe on the Island of Phuket.

PS Welcome to DU theycanbiteme

[Kber]

13. Two things strike me about this story

a child with the intellegence and confidence to to what she did

and two - parents who both raised this remarkable girl and listened to her when she needed them to.

The two go hand in hand. Hats off to the whole family!

[Demeter]

17. Third Striking Feature: Not A Fundie Could Do It

No brain-washed child of the Bush regime would have enough science information to notice and draw upon the teaching of factual science which the Bush believers are bent on purging from our schools.

[bobbieinok]

59. plus many super conservative parents believe children 'should be seen

but not heard'........ would not have paid attention, because what can I, a superior learn from an inferior???

[Kber]

72. xactly!

[MountainLaurel]

73. No time for science

When there are standardized tests to be passed to keep up property values.

Yep, this'd never happen with an American child.

[bemildred]

14. So, I guess we need more 10 yr old girls working for the CIA. nt

[DoYouEverWonder]

21. LOL

I certainly would feel safer with this 10 year old, then I ever will with George Bush.

[Twillig]

23. "Why don't you put her in charge?!"

[GOPNotForMe]

37. OMG I LOVE ALIENS

Favorite movie ever.

[Swamp Rat]

42. Really?

[slutticus]

57. ROTF! YEAH! Hudson kicks all ass!!

[amazona]

15. another young man who was a hero

I'll try to link it here:

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/printfriendly/0,4139,80112,00.html

Scroll down to "Australian Hero."


Quote:


Take Australian Manfred Newstifter. When the wave hit, the 23-year-old marine captain trainee, known as 'Richie' to guests at the Amanpuri Resort Hotel, was the first to warn tourists to get off the beach.

Mr Fred Varnier, manager of the hotel, also raced down to the beach, frantically warning people that their lives were at risk.

Mr Anil Thadani, 58, chairman of Schroder Capital Partners, was staying at the hotel with his family.

'It was this young man (Richie) on the beach who saved everybody,' said Mr Thadani, who arrived in Singapore yesterday.

Rumor on the travel boards is that Ritchie was just 19, but this story says 23. Either way, it was quick thinking, not age that counted.

[xultar]

18. OK what happened to all the adults, did they temporaily go loopy?

How can a kid recoginze it and an adult runs toward it. :shrug: Let's put that kid on the tsunami warning taskforce committee.

[demigoddess]

71. adults are too far away from observing nature as something

important and to be listened to. Adults view nature these days like a walk in the park, sidewalk in place and everything pruned so no twig will be in their path

[fortyfeetunder]

19. If anything, thank the teacher

for giving that child and her classmates useful education!!!

[TahitiNut]

31. Why is it exceptional? Indeed, why do those dwelling on the shores ...

... lack such basic education regarding the forces that are their neighbor? :shurg:

[Lorien]

35. and the parents who raised a smart kid

who PAYS ATTENTION in school.

How many American children would have such knowledge? I don't remember learning anything about tsunami warning signs when I was ten years old (I grew up in the midwest, not that that's an excuse).

[SharonAnn]

39. I learned about it in Michener's novel "Hawaii" where one happens

and there's the ominous sign of the tide going out, tourists not understanding, and one or more natives realizing what was about too happen.

I don't remember learning it in schools but I learned how to read in school and learned to love to read. So I learned it from reading.

[TahitiNut]

50. Formal schooling should be regarded as "priming the learning pump" ...

... and be regarded as successful when the students take on the job of their own 'education' over their own lifetimes. Curiosity, critical thinking, logic, and empirical discipline are the foremost skills that must be nurtured, imho.

[phylny]

53. I guess it depends where you live.

Growing up on Long Island and swimming in the Atlantic, I did not learn about Tsunamis from my teachers, but we learned enough about the waves and the riptides by listening to the lifeguards, and by swimming in the waves.

When you saw and felt the water recede rapidly, and deeply, you knew that some huge waves were coming. Likewise, when you felt the pull of the ocean as you were swimming, you learned what to do to survive a riptide. They also have warning signs on the beaches now (don't remember if they had them way back when).

I'm amazed that local lore didn't teach people enough about what could happen.

It's all so very sad.

[Borgnine]

24. Finally, some news that makes me feel good...

...in the wake of this horrible mess.

Amazing. Ten years old. It makes you wonder how much worse off we'd be if we just put children in charge of running the world. Surely they couldn't be as childish as some of the assholes in charge.

[wellstone dem]

26. This girl, and a few other people

were the only early warning system these islands have. Yet we spend billions on killing more people in Iraq. Justice, where have you gone.

[Pithy Cherub]

27. Her retention of the materials is outstanding!

She actually saw the science she learned come to be and had the presence of mind to speak up! She wonderfully earned her heavenly wings!

[Vidar]

30. Inspirational. Thanks for posting.

[spirallaw]

32. NEW QUAKE MAP 5.2 2005/01/01 14:29:10 8.069 93.203 20.7 NICOBAR ISL

Just out

MAP 5.2 2005/01/01 14:29:10 8.069 93.203 20.7

[TahitiNut]

36. A 5.2 quake is about 1/10,000th as powerful as a 9.2 quake.

The open-ended Richter scale is roughly an approximation of the energy/force of an earthquake where each unit of increase represents a ten-fold increase in force. After that, it's location, location, location.

[Sean Reynolds]

33. See this is what shocked me.

After knowing of a major quake, I'd of gotten as far away from water as possible. I've been thinking about this since it hit, and wondered why so many people ignored the fact that they were by the water?

[bpilgrim]

40. they lived THOUSANDS of miles away

the CNN et al should have said something HOURS before it struck.

peace

[Sean Reynolds]

41. Yes.....

But still, I don't think I'd risk being close to water knowing how big the quake was. :D

[bpilgrim]

81. but

what if you didn't know...

peace

[gaia_gardener]

84. Exactly

a lot of these people were on vacation. When I'm on vacation I spend as much time doing fun things as I can. I don't listen to the news (unless it just happens to be on when I'm in a store or restaurant).

Couple that with the fact that the Indian Ocean had never (or rarely?) had a tsunami ... It'd be easy to not realize what was going on.

[burrowowl]

38. Smart girl

I was wondering why many people didn't react to the ocean's warnings.

[mitchtv]

44. I saw a spot on tv where the natives listenened to the warning

of the birds and wildlife, they fled into the jungle and survived.I forget where.

[burrowowl]

66. Yes

always keep an eye and an ear tuned on nature: the clouds, the water, the animals, etc. A fund of knowledge and how to survive. And when strange things happen, it is better to observe from afar, i.e., RUN!

I remember an ass in his new SUV thinking he and his vehicle were stronger than the 10" of water going across the road which ran through an arroyo, didn't pay attention to those watch for water signs. Good thing it was a narrow arroyo, SUV got jammed on the walls and kept him above water, SUV total ruin. Same goes for people who stop on top of railroad tracks waiting for the stoplight to change.

[Nothing Without Hope]

49. The most amazing thing about this story to me is ...

... that they LISTENED to her quickly enough to take immediate action.

It wasn't just this little girl's education and alert application of what she had learned, it was that her relationship with adults was such that she could go to a parent and what she said was taken seriously by enough adults to save all those lives.

There is no explanation for why none of the people LIVING on those shores were apparently told what to do if they saw those same signs. And of course, no justification for the absence of a a local warning and evacuation protocol based on detection of the earthquake itself.

But it's a great story and I'm glad to have heard it. Thanks!

[Neshanic]

52. Wave "evolution" to be taugh. Science can't prove source.

You see, nobody has been to the bottom of the sea to observe a tsunami birth, so intelligent design devotees want an opposing view taught.

[rebecca_herman]

54. Wow

Maybe we should put this kid in charge. She's smarter than the majority of politicians.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

58. Mr Kearney must be proud

And so must that little girl's parents.

[Radio_Lady]

60. Goddess, what IS that animal???

[GoddessOfGuinness]

62. A Giant Anteater

from South America...

[Radio_Lady]

63. Wow! That's an amazing looking creature!

I thought it was an anteater, but have never seen such a large one. He must have to eat a HECK of a lot of ants...

[Radio_Lady]

64. Is this the one? I wonder how many exist today?

Giant Anteater
Myrmecophaga tridactyla
Although its range is broad, this unlikely combination of tail and snout is elusive and its numbers are relatively small, reaching highest densities in remote undisturbed pampas. It is certainly the strangest beast in the New World.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

65. They like termites, too

I believe their status is "threatened", but not yet endangered. That could change, however, as they are easy to kill, and are hunted for their meat. :cry:

[The Backlash Cometh]

69. Hmmm...obviously came from a school that doesn't teach Creationism.

[Minstrel Boy]

70. "Elders' Sea Knowledge Spares Some Thais"

Elders' Sea Knowledge Spares Some Thais

Jan 1

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Knowledge of the ocean and its currents passed down from generation to generation of a group of Thai fishermen known as the Morgan sea gypsies saved an entire village from the Asian tsunami, a newspaper said Saturday.

By the time killer waves crashed over southern Thailand last Sunday the entire 181 population of their fishing village had fled to a temple in the mountains of South Surin Island, English language Thai daily The Nation reported.

"The elders told us that if the water recedes fast it will reappear in the same quantity in which it disappeared," 65-year-old village chief Sarmao Kathalay told the paper.

So while in some places along the southern coast, Thais headed to the beach when the sea drained out of beaches - the first sign of the impending tsunami - to pick up fish left flapping on the sand, the gypsies headed for the hills.

...

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050102/D87BKBO80.html

[Democat]

78. Science and Education helped save those people, but...

The religious right is already calling her an "angel" and talking about God's help.

She was educated and used her knowledge of science to save lives. The right wing media would rather call it a "miracle" than talk reality.

[bpilgrim]

82. and calling it 'INTUITION'

instead of LEARNING :puke:

peace

[Lisa]

80. I'd say she gets an "A+"!

Thanks for posting! I passed this along to the rest of my (geography) department.

[onager]

83. I have to compare this kid to...

...the "asses in SUV's" a poster above mentioned.

Here in California, every year the Park Rangers have to waste a lot of valuable time and money rescuing idiots. They're not ALL driving SUV's. Some of them do stuff like wander out into blinding snowstorms wearing nothing but their Toby Keith T-shirts, and get lost. Because they thought "it looked so neat out there."

But according to an old LA TIMES article, the Rangers do indeed spend most of their time pulling SUV's out of gullies, snowbanks, (former) dry washes that flash-flood, etc. etc.

The Park Rangers say they hear variations of the same two excuses over and over:

1. "I thought my SUV was 4-wheel-drive! But you say it's only 2-wheel-drive? Damn!"

2. "I don't understand. This kind of SUV can get out of anything in the TV commercials."

Now I'm not making this up. According to the article, the Park Rangers have evolved a special radio code for these situations:

"TNS"

That stands for: "Thwarting natural selection."

[phylny]

87. TNS

That's great.

Reminds me of a term we used when I worked at a school, and it's totally off topic.

There are 13 or so disability categories for special education, such as SLI (Speech-Language Impaired), OHI (Other Health Impaired), but we used to think the federal government should have added a new one:

"PD" for Parental Dysfunction.

<Carry on with smart, alert tsunami girl talk.>

[malaise]

88. A Sri Lankan environmentalist

said he left the beach when he saw the sea birds getting excited and flying away. There are always signs for those who are not too arrogant to see.

[DoYouEverWonder]

91. Only problem is that you have to be awake

and outside in order to be able to notice.

Signs are great if you are in a position to be able to notice them.

[DoYouEverWonder]

90. Thank you

that made my day.

[GOPBasher]

92. What a heartwarming story. Thanks for posting!