Young tsunami heroine honoured

A New Zealand girl who saw the approach of last month’s deadly tsunami that hit Samoa has been honoured.

On holiday with her family, 10-year-old Abby Wutzler ran along the beach to raise the alarm.

Her new found fame has come as a bit of a shock.

‘‘I think it’s a bit OTT, I guess. Yes, I guess everyone who survived is a hero at the end of the day,’‘ Abby said.

Abby’s former teacher Kay Mudge is glad she was paying attention.

‘‘It’s the first time in 20-odd years of teaching that I can be absolutely sure that something I’ve taught sunk in and stayed in, and that it was me that taught it.’‘

At least, 150 people perished in Samoa, American Samoa and Tongo when the devastating Tsunami struck.

Giant waves, trigged by a massive 8.3 magnitude undersea earthquake, wiped out whole villages.

Despite that, its thought the number of victims would have been much higher had a warning system not been installed following the huge 2004 Tsunami that killed some 230,000 people.

Copyright © 2009 euronews

tags: New Zealand, Samoa, Tsunami