Ten years ago, a tsunami struck Thailand. A tsunami is a set of large powerful waves caused by an earthquake on the sea floor. This particular tsunami was especially devastating because nobody was expecting it. Thailand is also very flat, which allowed the wave to travel inland a long distance until it lost power. While some countries have a tsunami warning system like a hurricane warning system, Thailand did not. As the earthquake was far out at sea, nobody felt it.
During this time , an eight-year-old British girl named Amber mason was on holiday in Phuket, Thailand, with her mum and stepdad. The best part of her vacation was that she had befriended a four-year-old elephant called Ning Nong whose owner allowed Amber to ride the animal. The morning of the tsunami Amber was down on the beach with ning Nong ad her owner. They were looking for stranded fish to eat. amber was on Ning Nong's back when earting Ning Nong bolted away from the beach and headed up a nearby hill. Ning Nong's owner swiflty folowed when the first wave struck. Ning Nong held firmly and kept himself and Amber from being swept away and injured or worse. Amber's parents found her and Ning Nong before the second wave hit, and were able to get them all to safety Ning Nong is still on the same beach today happily playing in the ocean. Amber will either just celebrated her 18th birthday or will be doing so soon.
