Class 8 CBSE Guide - The Tsunami, Chapter 2 Honeydew - NCERT Answers

CBSE Class VIII, Honeydew (NCERT English)

Chapter 2, The Tsunami

NCERT answers of chapter exercise important questions

Comprehension Check (Page 28, 29)

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

Answer: Tilly’s family came to Thailand to celebrate Christmas.

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

Answer: Tilly’s mother saw that the water was swelling and the beach was getting smaller and smaller. And Tilly saw that the sea was slowly rising, bubbling and forming a whirlpool.

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 in a video of tsunami which was shown in her class by her geography teacher.

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 went to the third floor of the hotel to escape from the tsunami.

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

Answer: Her geography teacher felt very happy because her student and geography lesson saved many people from tsunami waves.

Comprehension Check (Page 30)

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

Answer: The people said that about an hour before the tsunami hit, the elephants of Yala National park had run away from the Patanangala beach.

Question.4: What did the dogs in Galle do?

Answer: The dogs refused to go to the beach for their daily routine runs.

Working with the Text important questions

Question.1: When he felt the earthquake, do you think Ignesious immediately worked about a tsunami? Give reasons of 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 stuck? 

Answer: No, when he felt the earthquake Ignesious did not think about the tsunami. He thought only about the tremors. That was why he took his television off the table and put it on the ground. In fact the Ignesious family did not have any time to discuss and plan their course of action after tsunami struck. That was why there was only chaos and confusion. The following tells it clearly: “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 directions.”  

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

Answer: Meghna and Almas were both lucky survivors. Meghna was swept away with her parents and seventy other people. All but Meghna died. She floated on a wooden door for two days when a wave bought her to the shore. In the same way, all the family members of Almas Javed were swept away by the tsunami. Almas climbed a log of wood. She fainted but remained on it for long time and was eventually saved. 

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: When Tilly started screaming and asked her family to leave the beach, her parents could have scolded her or ignored her. But they listened to their daughter as a result of which they survived the disaster.

I am not sure; if I were in their place I might have reacted in the same manner or may be in a different way too.     

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: The first idea is that the animals have a sixth sense. They know when the earth is going to shake. The second idea is that the animals have a more acute sense of hearing. This helps them to hear or feel the earth’s vibration. In this way they sense the coming disaster much before the human beings. So they run away to safer places.

To me the first idea seems more believable. It is so because many animals get an idea of the coming rains. Now rain has nothing to do with the sense of hearing. So it is more sensible to think that nature has provided them some sixth sense which helps them get over the crises.    

Class 8 CBSE English Guide - Solutions of Additional CBSE Questions

Question.1: What was it that triggered tsunami on 26^th Dec’04?

Solution: The tsunami was triggered by a massive earthquake off Northern Sumatra early in the morning of 26^th Dec’04. This caused the tsunami on 26^th December, 2004.

Question.2: How did Tilly Smith save her family?

Solution: Tilly Smith had come to Thailand with her family to celebrate Christmas. Standing on the beach, she and her mother saw the sea water coming to the shore. The beach was getting smaller and smaller. The mother wondered what was happening.

Tilly Smith sensed that something was wrong. She remembered a geography lesson her teacher taught to the class two weeks before. In the meantime, she saw the sea slowly rise and start to foam. It was forming whirlpools. She had seen the same thing in a video in the class. It was of a tsunami which hit Hawaiian island in 1946. Tilly started to scream at her family to go off the beach. She got more and more hysterical. Seeing her daughter so frightened, the mother took the family back to the hotel. Her parents took her and her sister to the hotel’s swimming pool. Soon the tsunami hit the hotel. The whole family reached the third floor of the hotel and was thus saved. 

Question.3: What happened to Meghna after the tsunami?  Or,

                  How was Meghna fortunate to have survived the Tsunami?

Solution: Meghna was a 13 years old girl. She was swept away with waves along with her parents and many other people. Meghna held on to a wooden door. She kept on floating for two days in that manner. Fortunately, a wave brought her back to the shore and thus, she was saved.