- 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.
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- 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.
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- Tilly's family, from Surrey, England, was enjoying a
day at Maikhao Beach last Sunday when the sea rushed out and began to bubble.
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- The adults were curious, but Tilly froze in horror.
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- "Mummy, we must get off the beach now!" she
told her mother.
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- "I think there's going to be a tsunami."
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- The adults didn't understand until Tilly added the magic
words:
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- "A tidal wave."
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- 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
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- where no one was killed or seriously injured.
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- Last night, Tilly was being hailed as a savior.
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- "I think it's phenomenal that Tilly's parents and
the others on the beach are alive because she studied hard at school,"
said Craig Smith , the American manager of the JW Marriott Hotel where
Tilly's family was staying.
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- He said a tsunami is not like you see in the movies,
where a huge wave wells up on the horizon and can be seen for miles off
shore.
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- It is more like a sudden surge of water," he said.
"There's very little warning.
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- She's a hero."
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- Tilly shrugged off the attention and modestly said, "Last
term, my geography teacher, Mr. Kearney, taught us about earthquakes and
how they can cause tsunamis.
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- "I was on the beach, and the water started to go
funny.
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- "I recognized what was happening and had a feeling
there was going to be a tsunami."
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- "When the water went back, I was like most people
on the beach. I wanted to walk down and look at what was going on,"
she recalled. "It was only when Tilly explained what she thought was
going to happen that I had second thoughts.
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- "We ran off the beach as fast as we could and went
to the first floor of the hotel where it would be safe. Minutes later the
water surged right over the beach and demolished everything in its path.
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- "It was terrifying to watch but I'm very proud of
her."
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- The Sun newspaper
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