A smart Brit

Congratulations on your education of this girl.

Earl

****


Girl saved tourists thanks to school lesson


Mon Jan 3,12:18 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - A 10-year-old British girl saved 100 other tourists from
the Asian tsunami having warned them a giant mass of water was on its way
after learning about the phenomenon weeks earlier at school.

"I was on the beach and the water started to go funny," Tilly Smith told the
Sun at the weekend from Phuket, Thailand.

"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."

While other holidaymakers stood and stared as the disappearing waters left
boats and fish stranded on the sands, Tilly recognised the danger signs
because she had done a school project on giant waves caused by underwater
earthquakes.

Quick action by Tilly's mother and Thai hotel staff meant Maikhao beach was
quickly cleared, just minutes before a huge wave crashed ashore. The beach
was one of the few on the Thai island of Phuket where no-one was killed.

Her teacher, Andrew Kearney, paid tribute to his quick-thinking student.

"Tilly is a very bright, level-headed girl ... it is an incredible
coincidence that our class were learning about this type of tsunami just two
weeks before Christmas," he told the newspaper.

On Sunday, the Foreign Office said 40 Britons were confirmed dead from the
December 26 tsunami which claimed some 130,000 victims. The toll is expected
to rise.