Child saved more than 100 people

Hundreds of people were screaming, completely frightened – but everyone had made it to hotel floors high enough in time.

In the following days, the holidaymakers found out how lucky they were: Tilly remembers a little girl who was brought to their hotel. It had injuries all over its body and was severely traumatized. The child’s entire family died in the tsunami.

After the tsunami, a DNA team that had flown in from England stayed at the hotel and helped identify the bodies. At night, the team members sat in silence in the hotel and tried to process the impressions of the day.

When Tilly’s family was able to fly home in early 2005, security guards on board asked who had lost people in the tsunami. “Many raised their hands,” Tilly later wrote in a contribution to the United Nations. “That was the moment when I realized the magnitude of this catastrophe.” There were only vacationers on board the plane: “How much worse must it have been for the local people who had lost so many loved ones?”

A year later, Tilly met former US President Bill Clinton, who at the time was the UN special envoy for continued global support for post-tsunami reconstruction.

“Tilly’s story shows us the importance of teaching young people about natural hazards,” Clinton said. “Tilly’s story is a reminder that education can make the difference between life and death.”