ENGLISH

CHAPTER 2: THE TSUNAMI

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THE TSUNAMI
~Summary~

Tsunami, a natural disaster caused due to earthquakes in the sea, affected many people
on 26th December 2004. This chapter gives the details of the unfortunate event which occurred
in some parts of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Many people saw the tragedy happen, and some lost their near and dear ones. Some lost their
shelter, others their pets. The chapter describes some of the stories which occurred at that
time. It tell us how brave the people and animals were. Lucky or not, they took it in their stride
and made their life better.
Here, the story of Ignesious, Sanjeev, Meghna, Almas, and Tilly were all very inspiring as even
after the disaster struck, they acted according to the situation.

~Conclusion~

A tsunami is a series of waves that can move on shore rapidly, but last for several hours and flood
coastal communities with little warning. Tsunamis can be triggered by a variety of geological
processes such as earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, or meteorite impacts.

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NCERT SOLUTIONS
Questions (Page No. 27)
(Comprehension Check I)
Question 1. Say whether the following are true or false.

a. Ignesious lost his wife, two children, his father-in-law, and his brother-in-law in the
tsunami.

b. Sanjeev made it to safety after the tsunami.

c. Meghna was saved by a relief helicopter.

d. Almas’s father realised that a tsunami was going to hit the island.

e. Her mother and aunts were washed away with the tree that they were holding on to.

Answer:

a. True

b. False

c. False

d. True

e. True

Questions (Page No. 29)

(Comprehension Check II)
Answer the following in a phrase or sentence.

Question 1. Why did Tilly’s family come to Thailand?

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Answer: Tilly Smith came with her family from South-East England to celebrate Christmas at a
beach resort in southern Thailand.

Question 2. What were the warning signs that both Tilly and her mother saw?

Answer: Tilly and her family had already experienced a massive earthquake off northern Sumatra
earlier in the morning of 26 December 2004. Her mother saw that the water was swelling and
coming closer and the beach was getting smaller and smaller. Meanwhile, Tilly also noticed that
the sea slowly started to rise, foam and bubble and form whirlpools in it.

Question 3. Do you think Tilly’s mother was alarmed by them?

Answer: Tilly’s mother initially didn’t understand what was happening but when she saw her
frightened daughter hysterically screaming that it was a tsunami, she understood the seriousness
of the condition.

Question 4. Where had Tilly seen the sea behaving in the same strange fashion?

Answer: Tilly had seen the sea behaving in the same strange fashion during her geography lesson
when her geography teacher had shown her class the video and told them that tsunamis can be
caused by earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides.

Question 5. 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 ran back and took refuge in the third floor
of the hotel to escape from the tsunami. The building withstood the surge of three tsunami
waves.

Question 6. How do you think her geography teacher felt when she heard about what Tilly had
done in Phuket?

Answer: Tilly’s geography teacher must have felt very proud of her when she heard about what
Tilly had done in Phuket. She was happy that because of her lesson and video, the young girl was
able to save her family and lives of many others by warning them of the tsunami waves.

Questions (Page No. 30)

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(Comprehension Check III)

Answer using a phrase or a sentence.

Question 1. n the tsunami 150,000 people died. How many animals died?

Answer: Although the giant 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. The exact count of
dead animals is not known compared to human casualties.

Question 2. How many people and animals died in Yala National Park?

Answer: Sixty visitors were swept off the Patanangala beach inside the Yala National Park, no
animal carcasses were found, except for two water buffaloes.

Question 3. What do people say about the elephants of Yala National Park?

Answer: The people present at the Yala National Park observed three elephants running away
from the Patanangala beach about an hour before the tsunami hit that place.

Question 4. What did the dogs in Galle do?

Answer: The dogs in Galle refused to go for their daily run on the beach on the day the tsunami
hit the coast.

Questions (Page No. 30-31)

(Working with the text)
Question 1. When he felt the earthquake, do you think Ignesious immediately worried about a
tsunami? Give reasons for your answer. Which sentence in the text tells you that the Ignesious
family did not have any time to discuss and plan their course of action after the tsunami struck?

Answer: No, Ignesious did not realise a tsunami had struck when he felt the earthquake initially.
He got up and carefully took his television set off its table and put it down on the ground so that
it would not fall and break. Then the family rushed out of the house.

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Ignesious family did not have any time to discuss and plan their course of action after the tsunami
struck due to chaos and confusion. When the tremors stopped, they saw the sea rising. In the
chaos and confusion, two of his children caught hold of the hands of their mother’s father and
mother’s brother, and rushed in the opposite direction.

Question 2. Which words in the list below describe Sanjeev, in your opinion? (Look up the
dictionary for words that you are not sure of.)

Cheerful ambitious brash brave careless

Heroic selfless heartless humorous

Use words from the list to complete the three sentences below.

a. I don’t know if Sanjeev was cheerful, ___________ or ___________.

b. I think that he was very brave, ___________ and___________.

c. Sanjeev was not heartless, ___________or___________.

Answer: In my opinion, the words that describe Sanjeev are brave, heroic and selfless.

a. I don’t know if Sanjeev was cheerful, ambitious or humorous.

b. I think that he was very brave, heroic and selfless.

c. Sanjeev was not heartless, brash or careless.

Question 3. How are Meghna and Almas’s stories similar?

Answer: Both Almas’ and Meghna’s families were swept away by the tsunami waves and they
were the only survivors in their respective families. Both of them floated in the sea for many
days. Meghna spent two days floating in the sea, holding on to a wooden door and brought to
the shore by a wave. Similarly, Almas also climbed a log of wood and fainted. Later she woke up
in a hospital in Kamorta and brought to Port Blair thereafter. Both the girls were so traumatized

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about the incident that Meghna was found walking on the seashore in a daze and Almas did not
want to discuss the tragic incident with anyone.

Question 4. What are the different ways in which Tilly’s parents could have reacted to her
behaviour? What would you have done if you were in their place?

Answer: Tilly could foresee that a tsunami had struck them. Seeing her frightened and getting
hysterical, her parents understood that something serious is likely to happen. They took both
their daughters away from the beach to the swimming pool at the hotel. Seeing them, a number
of other tourists also left the beach along with them. Tilly also shouted to everyone around in the
beach to run for safety.

However, Tilly’s parents could have also reacted in a different manner by not paying heed to her
frightened behaviour. If they would have tried to calm her down, probably if they would have got
washed away along with the tsunami waves.

If I would have been in a similar situation, I would have carefully listened to Tilly and realised that
a danger was approaching and immediately rush to the hotel by running away from the beach.

Question 5. If Tilly’s award was to be shared, who do you think she should share it with — her
parents or her geography teacher?

Answer: In my opinion, Tilly should have shared her award with her geography teacher who made
her aware of what a tsunami is and its various effects. Due to this awareness, she was able to
save the lives of so many people.

Question 6. What are the two different ideas about why so few animals were killed in the
tsunami? Which idea do you find more believable?

Answer: Not many animals were killed by the tsunami because most of them have a sixth sense
working in them. As a matter of fact, animals know when the earth is going to shake. Some
experts also believe that animals have an acute sense of hearing that helps them to hear or feel
the earth’s vibration. They have the ability to sense an approaching disaster long before humans
realise what’s going on and they are able to move to safer places.

Animals have a better sense of hearing and gut feeling and this is scientifically proven that they
can sense disturbances and hear low frequency sounds which is not within the capacity of
humans. Although this is an incredible fact, yet it’s true!

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Questions (Page No. 31-32)

(Working with language)
Question 1. Go through Part-I carefully and make a list of as many words as you can find that
indicate movement of different kinds. (There is one word that occurs repeatedly — count how
many times!) Put them into three categories.

fast movement slow movement neither slow nor fast

Can you explain why there are many words in one column and not in the others?

Answer:

Fast movement Slow movement Neither slow nor fast

Earthquake Recede Floating

Fall Rising

Rushed

Tremors

Swept away

Washed away

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Ran

The ‘fast movement’ has more words than the other two columns i.e. ‘slow movement’ and
‘neither slow nor fast’. This indicates that there are fast movements in a tsunami and it is
extremely difficult to avert such a critical situation both for men and animals instantly. Although
people were fast in their movements such as running or climbing, most of the people got washed
away by the tsunami waves.

Question 2:

Fill in the blanks in the sentences below (the verbs given in brackets will give you a clue).

a. The earth trembled, but not many people felt the _________. (tremble)

b. When the zoo was flooded, there was a lot of _________ and many animals escaped into
the countryside. (confuse)

c. We heard with _________ that the lion had been recaptured. (relieve)

d. The zookeeper was stuck in a tree and his _________ was filmed by the TV crew. (rescue)

e. There was much _________ in the village when the snake charmer came visiting. (excite)

Answer:

a. The earth trembled, but not many people felt the trembling.

b. When the zoo was flooded, there was a lot of confusion and many animals escaped into
the countryside.

c. We heard with relief that the lion had been recaptured.

d. The zookeeper was stuck in a tree and his rescue was filmed by the TV crew.

e. There was much excitement in the village when the snake charmer came visiting.

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Question 3. Say whether the following sentences are in the Active or the Passive voice. Write A
or P after each sentence as shown in the first sentence.

a. Someone stole my bicycle. __A__

b. The tyres were deflated by the traffic police. _______________

c. I found it last night in a ditch near my house. _______________

d. It had been thrown there. _______________

e. My father gave it to the mechanic. _______________

f. The mechanic repaired it for me. _______________

Answer:

a. Someone stole my bicycle. __A__

b. The tyres were deflated by the traffic police. ______P________

c. I found it last night in a ditch near my house. _____A__________

d. It had been thrown there. ______P_________

e. My father gave it to the mechanic. _____A__________

f. The mechanic repaired it for me. _____A__________

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