The Tsunami Extra Questions and Answers Class 8 English Honeydew Chapter 2 

Short Answer Type Questions

1. What exactly is a tsunami? What occurred on December 26, 2004?

Answer: Tsunamis are very enormous and strong waves triggered by earthquakes under the sea. On December 26, 2004, a tsunami struck Thailand and sections of India, including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Tamil Nadu Coast.

2. Who first felt an earthquake at Andaman & Nicobar?

Answer: In Katchall, Ignesious was the manager of a cooperative society. His wife reported feeling an earthquake at 6 a.m. Ignesious gently removed his television set from its table and placed it on the ground to avoid it falling and breaking.

3. What happened with Meghna?

Answer: Meghna, a 13-year-old girl, was carried away with her parents and 77 other people. She floated in the sea for two days, clutching a wooden door 11 times. She noticed a relief helicopter overhead, but they didn't notice her. Finally, she was discovered in a trance wandering down the beach.

4. Who was Almas?

Answer: Almas was a little girl who spent her days floating on wood before passing out. She awoke at a hospital in Kamorta, from whence she was sent to Port Blair. She didn't tell anyone about the incident since she was still traumatised by it.

5. Who was Tilly Smith? Where she got awards?

Answer: Tilly Smith was a British school girl. She was 10 years old and was able to save many lives when the tsunami struck Phuket beach in Thailand. That’s why she was awarded a number of awards.

6. What was the Smith family doing at Phuket beach in Thailand?

Answer: The Smith family from South East England was celebrating Christmas at a beach resort in Southern Thailand.

7. How did Tilly Smith know that it was Tsunami?

Answer: Tilly Smith sensed that something was wrong. Her mind kept going back to a geography lesson she had taken in England. She remembered that she had learnt this in class in a video of a tsunami that had hit the Hawaii; an Island in 1946. She knew that tsunami can be caused by earthquakes, volcanoes and landslide.

8. What did Tilly do to save the life of people at beach?

Answer: Tilly screamed that it is Tsunami. Even though her mother did not know what it is still they went away from the beach. Tourists of the beach also went to the 3rd floor of the hotel and this is how they saved their life.

9. What animal activity indicates that they are already aware of the disaster?

Answer: Elephants cried and fled for higher ground; dogs refused to go outside; flamingos abandoned their low-flying nesting sites; and zoo animals raced into their enclosure. These behaviours reveal their hidden strength.

10. What occurs on the Cuddaldre coast?

Answer: Thousands of people died on the Cuddalore shoreline, yet buffaloes, goats, and dogs were recovered unhurt.

11. Why did dogs refuse to go outside at Galle?

Answer: A Sri Lankan gentleman who lives on the coast near Galle said that his dogs refuse to go on the beach where they are usually excited to go on the outside. This is because dogs got some kind of alert from their super power that disaster is going to come. Thus, it saved the life of man also.

12. Why did Tilly’s family come to Thailand?

Answer: Tilly’s family had come to Thailand to celebrate Christmas.

13. What were the warning sign that both Tilly and her mother saw?

Answer: Both saw the sea rise and it started to form whirlpools.

14. Do you think Tilly’s mother was alarmed by them?

Answer: 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.

15. Where had Tilly seen the sea behaving in the same strange fashion?

Answer: 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.

16. Where did the Smith family and the others on the beach go to escape from the tsunami?

Answer: The Smith family and the others on the beach took refuge on the third floor of a hotel.

17. How do you think her geography teacher felt when he heard about what Tilly had done in Phuket?

Answer: Tilly’s geography teacher must have felt proud of her as she had made use of what she had learnt in class to help save so many lives.

18. In the tsunami 150,000 people died. How many animals died?

Answer: Although no data is given in the story but it says the number of dead animals was far less compared to human casualties.

19. How many people and animals died in Yala National Park?

Answer: Sixty visitors and two animals.

20. What do people say about the elephants of Yala National Park?

Answer: The people at the Yala National Park had seen three elephants running away from the Patanangala beach about an hour before the tsunami hit.

21. What did the dogs in Galle do?

Answer: The dogs at Galle refused to go out for their daily run on the beach.

Long Answer Type Questions

1. What exactly is a tsunami?

Answer: Tsunamis are massive waves triggered by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions under the sea. Tsunami waves do not grow drastically in height as they go further into the ocean. However, when the waves go inland, their heights increase as the depth of the water diminishes. The speed of tsunami waves is determined by ocean depth rather than distance from the wave's source. Tsunami waves may move at the same speed as jet jets across deep ocean, only slowing down when they reach shallow water. While tsunamis are sometimes referred to as tidal waves, oceanographers advise using this term because tides have nothing to do with these massive waves.

2. Why did Ignesious prioritise removing his television set from the table?

Answer: When Ignesious' wife sensed an earthquake, she awoke him. Ignesious assumed it was simply a normal earthquake and decided to protect his expensive household items. He gently removed his television set from its table and placed it on the ground to avoid it falling and breaking.

3. What did Ignesious' family members do once the tremor stopped?

When the earthquakes stopped, they noticed the waters rising. In the midst of the bustle and uncertainty, two of his children grabbed the hands of their mother's father and mother's brother and ran the other way. They were never seen by him again. His wife was also carried away. Only the three children that accompanied him were spared.

5. How did Meghna survive the tsunami?

Answer: Thirteen-year-old Meghna was carried away with her parents and 77 other persons. She swam in the water for two days, clutching a wooden door. She witnessed relief helicopters fly overhead eleven times, but they never noticed her. A wave carried her to the beach, where she was discovered strolling in a trance.

6. Tell us about Almas Javed and her family.

Answer: Almas Javed was ten years old at the time. She attended Carmel Convent in Port Blair, where her father owned a fuel station. Her mother Rahila lived on Nancowry Island. The entire family had travelled there to spend Christmas.

7. What did Almas' father do when he sensed the earthquake?

Answer : The family was sleeping when the tremors began early in the morning. Almas' father witnessed the waters retreat. He was aware that the water would resurface with enormous force. He roused everyone and attempted to hurry them to a safer location.

8. How was Almas’s family killed in the Tsunami?

Answer: When the earthquake woke Almas’s father , he tried to rush the family members  to a safer place. As they ran, Almas’s grandfather was hit on the head by something and he fell down. Almas’s father rushed to help him. Then came the first giant wave that swept both of them away. Almas’s mother and aunts stood clinging to the leaves of a coconut tree, calling out to her. A wave uprooted the tree, and they too were washed away.

9. How was Almas saved in the Tsunami?

Answer: When Almas’s other family members were washed away, Almas saw a log of wood floating. She climbed on to it. Then she fainted. When she woke up, she was in

a hospital in Kamorta. From there she was brought to Port Blair. The little girl does not want to talk about the incident with anyone. She is still traumatised.

10.  Who is Tilly Smith? Tell us about her family. Where did they go to spend

their holidays?

Answer- Tilly Smith was a ten-year-old schoolgirl from South-East England. . Tilly’s parents were Penny and Colin Smith. She had a sister of seven years old. The whole Smith family had been to Thailand .They were celebrating Christmas at a beach resort in southern Thailand.

11. How did Tilly Smith's geography lesson assist her understand the approaching tsunami?

When Tilly observed the sea slowly rise and begin to foam, bubble, and create whirlpools, her thoughts kept returning to a geography lecture she had taken only two weeks before flying out to Thailand with her family. She remembers seeing this in class in a movie of a 1946 tsunami that struck the Hawaiian Islands. Her geography teacher had presented the film to her students and explained that tsunamis are produced by earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides.

12.  How did Tilly react when she realized that a Tsunami was about to rush

upon them? How was the reaction of her Mother?

Answer: When Tilly realized that the strange behaviour of the sea was because of an impending Tsunami, Tilly started to scream at her family to get off the beach. She talked about an earthquake under the sea. She got more and more hysterical. Her mother Penny said that she didn’t know what a tsunami was. But seeing her daughter so frightened, she thought something serious must be going on. And they left the sea beach immediately.

13.  What happened after Tilly and her family left the sea beach?

Answer: After the hysterical behavior of their daughter, Tilly’s parents took her and her sister away from the beach, to the swimming pool at the hotel. A number of other tourists also left the beach with them. Then it was as if the entire sea had come out after them. Then they ran for safer place. The family took refuge in the third floor of the hotel. The building withstood the surge of three tsunami waves. If they had stayed on the beach, they would not have been alive.

14. Give some examples to show that animals knew beforehand about the Tsunami.

Answer: The behaviours of the animals show that as if they realized about the impending Tsunami. Before the giant waves slammed into the coast in India and Sri Lanka, wild and domestic animals seemed to know what was about to happen. They fled to safety. According to eyewitness accounts, elephants screamed and ran for higher ground; dogs refused to go outdoors; flamingoes abandoned their low-lying breeding areas; and zoo animals rushed into their shelters and could not be enticed to come back out.

15. Do animals have sixth sense?

Answer: Whether animals are having sixth sense is a debated matter. However the incidents during Tsunami hints at that the animals have sixth sense. The giant tsunami waves that rolled through the Indian Ocean killed more than 150,000 people in a dozen countries; but not many animals have been reported dead. Many people believe that animals possess a sixth sense and know when the earth is going to shake. Some experts believe that animals’ more acute hearing helps them to hear or feel the earth’s vibration. They can sense an approaching disaster long before humans realise what’s going on.

16. Give some examples that show that animals sensed about Tsunami and could

save themselves.

Answer: The incidents show that animals sensed about Tsunami and could save themselves. Along India’s Cuddalore coast, where thousands of people perished, buffaloes, goats and dogs were found unharmed. The Yala National Park in Sri Lanka is home to a variety of animals including elephants, leopards, and 130 species of birds. Sixty visitors were washed away from the Patanangala beach inside the park; but no animal carcasses were found, except for two water buffaloes. About an hour before the tsunami hit, people at Yala National Park had observed three elephants running away from the Patanangala beach.

17. How was the Srilankan gentleman saved by his two dogs?

Answer: The story of the Srilankan gentleman shows that his dogs perhaps for their sixth sense saved his life. The Srilankan gentleman living on the coast near Galle said that his two dogs would not go for their daily run on the beach. They are usually excited to go on this outing. But on that day they refused to go, and most probably saved his life.