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Tragedy struck India and five other countries on the day after Christmas, Sunday
the 26th. One long, terrible word. Tsunami.
An earthquake-triggered tsunami hit six countries on the coast of the Indian
Ocean in southeast Asia. For those who haven't heard of a tsunami, it's basically
a giant wave that is usually triggered by either a volcano or an earthquake.
The enormous wave hits land, and hard. Usually it destroys everything in its
path.
This one certainly did a huge amount of damage. People are calling it
the worst natural disaster in recorded history, killing at least 100,000 people.
But the tsunami didn't kill one Swedish boy and his dad. This story honestly
touched me.
I was watching CNN on television, right after dinner, as usual. When the people
on TV talked about the bombing in Iraq, I started talking at them, telling them
what the government should have done. Yes, I know the people in the TV can't
hear me, and can't respond.
Then, they started to talk about this tsunami, reporting on it for the first
time. Of course, I am very, well, cautious. I freaked out.
"WHERE IS IT?" I yelled, even though I live in Michigan, USA.
After explaining who the tsunami hit and what damage was caused, the reporter
moved on to a related story... the screen showed this little Swedish kid. I
cocked my head, curious, while his story began to unfold.
This little 2-year-old boy was found wrapped in a cloth next to his savior,
whom they didn't name.
"His parents are nowhere to be found," said the reporter. "We
believe that--" She stopped in the middle of her sentence, and put her
hand to her ear.
"JUST IN: The boy's father is alive, and found!"
Suddenly I found myself jumping with joy. His dad was alive! Just seeing them
be reunited felt wonderful!
I'm sorry to say, that this reporter couldn't find anymore cases like that,
but I did find some more very interesting facts about how much money has been
donated to the rescue effort, as of the time I was writing this (on December
29):
USA -- $35 million
Australia -- $27 million
Germany -- $27 million
Japan -- $30 million
United Kingdom- - $28 million
Saudi Arabia -- $10 million
Spain -- $68 million in aides, clothing, and other needed things. They will
also be providing aircraft for transporting these materials.
People say that if there had been a tsunami alert, like the Pacific Coast in
the US does, only hundreds would have died. I just don't know if something like
that could really be paid for -- where would the money come from?
I found my info at http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/29/quake.aid/index.html.
This is Benji103, saying HELLO, and GOOD-BYE!
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