Activity
Introduce the activity by asking students to:
1.
Write a description of a natural disaster.
2.
List as many natural disasters that you can think of
(volcano,
tornado, earthquake,
etc).
3.
Have you ever witnessed a natural disaster first hand
(other than on television)?
Hold a class discussion where students share their
answers with the rest of the class. Write the students’ responses
to #2 on the board.
- Show
a brief clip of a film that portrays a natural
disaster; “Twister”, "Forces
of Nature” a National Geographic
film, “Earthquake”, “Day
After Tomorrow” Tell them to
watch for one or more examples of the
natural disasters that
are listed on
the board. After showing the video
clip have students discuss:
1.
What were the causes of the natural disasters
you witnessed? To what extent
do human activities
contribute
to the recurring disasters? The
teacher might use the example that interference
in the environmental
system
such as chopping down trees disrupts
the ecological balance thereby
resulting in a loosening of the
soil and consequent
soil erosion which ultimately
causes flooding.
2.
What are the consequences of the natural
disasters you saw in
the
video?
3.
Who is most vulnerable and why?
4.
How do humans adapt to their hazard
prone environment? For example how
do residents
of California adapt
to living
in an environment that may be prone to earthquakes?
5.
Why are natural
hazards
more damaging in underdeveloped
countries
than in developed countries?
Closure
Tell students that the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center
(ADPC) defines disaster as “a sudden or gradually occurring
event triggered by human action or by natural causes”.
In other words a disaster may be a “natural or human-induced
event that deeply disrupts life and normal social environment
and inflicts great loss of life and property” (Disaster
and health hazard by Dr. Mustafa Abdur Rahim)
- Ask
students to categorize disasters as either natural or
human-induced.
Write the headings on the board and have
students
list examples of disasters that would fall under each category.
(Natural disasters would include; earthquakes, tornadoes,
tsunami, etc. and human-induced disasters could be war,
famine, nuclear accident, fires, etc)
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Embedded
Assessment
Students
will be assessed on their participation in the class
discussion.
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