Class 8 English Honeydew Chapter 2 Question Answers - The Tsunami

Q1: What happened with Meghna?
Ans: Meghna was a 13-year-old girl who was swept away along with her parents and 77 other people. She spent two days floating in the sea, holding on to a wooden door 11 times. She saw relief helicopters overhead but they didn't see her. At last, she was found walking on the seashore in a daze.

Q2: Do you think Tilly's mother was alarmed by them?
Ans: Tilly's mother could not understand what was happening and only realized that it was serious when Tilly got frightened and mentioned what a tsunami was.

Q3: Who was Tilly Smith? Where did she receive awards?
Ans: Tilly Smith was a British schoolgirl. She was 10 years old and was able to save many lives when the tsunami struck Phuket beach in Thailand. She received a number of awards for her actions.

Q4: In the tsunami, 150,000 people died. How many animals died?
Ans: Although no specific data is given in the story, it is mentioned that the number of dead animals was far less compared to human casualties.

Q5: How did Tilly Smith know that it was a tsunami?
Ans: 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 learned about tsunamis in class from a video of a tsunami that had hit Hawaii in 1946. She knew that tsunamis can be caused by earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides.

Q6: What was the Smith family doing at Phuket beach in Thailand?
Ans: The Smith family from South East England was celebrating Christmas at a beach resort in Southern Thailand.

Q7: Who was Almas?
Ans: Almas was a little girl who spent her days on a piece of wood floating and then she fainted. When she woke up, she was in a hospital in Kamorta from where she was brought to Port Blair. She didn't talk with anyone about the incident because she was still traumatized.

Q8: How do you think her geography teacher felt when he heard about what Tilly had done in Phuket?
Ans: Tilly's geography teacher must have felt proud of her, as she had applied what she had learned in class to help save many lives.

Q9: What do people say about the elephants of Yala National Park?
Ans: People at the Yala National Park had observed three elephants running away from the Patanangala beach about an hour before the tsunami hit.

Q10: What did Tilly do to save the lives of people at the beach?
Ans: Tilly screamed that it was a tsunami. Even though her mother did not know what it was, they still moved away from the beach. Tourists on the beach also went to the third floor of the hotel, and this is how they saved their lives.

Q11: Where had Tilly seen the sea behaving in the same strange fashion?
Ans: Tilly had seen the sea behaving in the same strange fashion in a video of a tsunami shown in her geography class.

Q12: What behavior of animals shows that they already knew about the disaster?
Ans: Elephants screamed and ran for higher ground; dogs refused to go outdoors; flamingoes abandoned their low-flying breeding areas; and zoo animals rushed into their shelters. These behaviors indicate their ability to sense impending danger.

Q13: What is Tsunami? What happened on 26 Dec 2004?
Ans: A tsunami is a very large and powerful wave caused by earthquakes under the sea. On 26 December 2004, a tsunami hit Thailand & parts of India such as Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and the Tamil Nadu Coast.

Q14: What happened at Cuddalore coast?
Ans: At Cuddalore coast, thousands of people perished, but buffaloes, goats, and dogs were found unharmed.

Q15: Why did Tilly's family come to Thailand?
Ans: Tilly's family had come to Thailand to celebrate Christmas.

Q16: Where did the Smith family and the others on the beach go to escape from the tsunami?
Ans: The Smith family and the others on the beach took refuge on the third floor of a hotel.

Q17: Who first felt an earthquake at Andaman & Nicobar?
Ans: Ignesious was the manager of a cooperative society in Katchall. His wife felt an earthquake at 6 a.m. in the morning. Ignesious carefully took his television set off its table and put it down on the ground so that it would not fall and break.

Q18: What were the warning signs that both Tilly and her mother saw?
Ans: Both Tilly and her mother saw the sea rise and form whirlpools.

Q19: Why did dogs refuse to go outside at Galle?
Ans: A Sri Lankan gentleman who lived on the coast near Galle mentioned that his dogs refused to go on the beach where they were usually excited to go. This behavior suggests that the dogs sensed the impending disaster.

Q20: Who was Tilly Smith? Where she got awards?
Ans: 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.