Summary of class 8 chapter 2 the tsunami
Answers
Answer:
Tsunami' refers to a very large and powerful wave in the
sea. It is caused by some earthquake under the sea. One such
calamity hit several countries on December 26, 2004. The worst
affected parts were coastal parts of India, the Andaman and Nicobar
islands and Thailand. Some 1,50,000 people lost their lives. But
animals suffered very few casualties. Perhaps they had sensed
the coming earthquake and they ran to safer high places.
This lesson recounts a few stories of bravery and intelligence
when the Tsunami hit the Andamans. The first story is about
Ignesious, the manager of a cooperative society in Katchall. He
was woken up by his wife at 6 am. The family rushed out of the
house. When the earth stopped shaking, the sea started rising.
The waves washed away his two children and in-laws. But his
three other children were saved because they were with him.
Sanjeev was a policeman. He managed to save himself, his
wife and daughter from the waves. But soon he heard cries for
help from the wife of John, the guesthouse cook. He jumped into
the water to rescue her. But both were washed away.
13 year old Meghna was carried away along with her parents
and 77 other people. She held on to a wooden door for two days.
Eleven times the relief helicopters flew overhead, but they couldn't
spot her. However, she was brought to the shore at last by a
wave.
Almas Javed was a ten-year-old student of a convent school
in Port Blair. Her family had gone to another island to celebrate
Christmas. Almas's father saw the sea waves receding in the morning. They understood that the waves would come back with
force. He tried to take his family to a safer place. But her father
~ and grandfather were swept away by a giant wave. Her mother
and aunts were washed away. Almas climbed on to a log of wood.
She later found herself in a hospital.
II
There is a story from Thailand. The Smith family was
celebrating Christmas at a beach resort. The parents had two
daughters. The water kept coming in on 26 December, 2004. But
little Tilly Smith sensed the danger ahead. She recalled the
geography lesson that Tsunami could be caused by quakes,
volcanoes and landslides. She called her family to, get out of the
beach. Her parents went up to the third floor of the hotel and
survived. Thus her geography lesson saved their lives.
While humans lost their lives, wild and domestic animals
sensed the danger in time. Elephants ran for higher ground and
the dogs, birds and zoo animals looked for safer places. Perhaps
animals possess a sixth sense. They feel the tremor long before
humans realise. So not many animals were reported dead. At
Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, no dead bodies of animals were
found while sixty visitors were washed away