10 year old New Zealand girl Abby Wutzler was holidaying in Samoa with her family when the tsunami smashed into the island. She is believed to have saved dozens of lives because she noticed the sea being suddenly sucked out and then ran along the beach shouting, "The water is going out. Tsunami!"
Abby had learned about the behaviour of tsunamis in school.
Her story, in a report by Kerrie Ritchie, recently featured on Radio National.
STUDENT: Was anybody in the water?Her mother, Vicky Wutzler, believes her daughter saved her life :
ABBY WUTZLER: Yes, heaps of people, not everyone in the water made it. I think my dad said we heard on the beach there were about 15 bodies washed up.
"(Her warning) most definitely saved a lot of lives in the process, mine included because I would never have got out."Abby clearly remembers what she saw that terrible day :
"You look from one side and you saw this wasteland of stuff and you look at the other side and it's lovely and green and things but hmm, then you pretty much wish you were a bird to fly away."The Full Radio National Report Is Here
