Natural disasters

Disasters are as old as Mankind.

The first description of the disaster and its management comes from mythological Noah and his ark.

Etymology

The word disaster originated from the Ancient Greek (dus-) "bad" and (aster) "star" and had an astrological sense of a calamity blamed on the position of planets.

A natural disaster is a result of a natural hazard, which has a negative effect on human beings. These geologic processes can lead to serious consequences such as:

Physical damage (injuries, disabilities, coma, death)

Psychological (cognitive, behavioral, social)

Structural damage – to variable extent

Ecological – changes in eco system

Economic – financial losses

Natural disasters and idioms

The eye of the hurricane/storm – a period of time when things are calm. But yet more trouble expected to come.

Can you find a proper Russian equivalent to this idiom? Correct. - Затишье перед бурей.

To weather the storm – to deal with a difficult situation. Any ideas? Right. - Пережить бурю.

A storm in a teacup is when someone makes a small problem seem like a big problem. How can we translate it into Russian? - Делать из мухи слона; Буря в стакане.

To wait for a raindrop in the drought – to wait/hope for something which has little chance of happening. What do you think? - Ждать у моря погоды.

To sit on a volcano - To be in a place where trouble may start or danger may come suddenly. - Cидеть на пороховой бочке; Жить как на вулкане.

Now listen to the following situations and fill in the proper idiom.

1. She was silent but I knew she was angry. It was ________________________.

2. Poor James had to stand there and _______________ as Dora was shouting at him for breaking down her laptop.

3. All those forecasts about the rain are ______________. It’s not as dangerous as they say.

4. Winning in a lottery is like _______________________________________.

5. Weren’t there other hotels in Pisa? Staying in this place is like ___________.

Most Types of Natural Disasters are already familiar to you. They include:

Read the definitions and match them with the pictures.

A sudden shaking of the ground is – earthquake.

A large amount of water which quickly covers a place that is usually dry land is - flood.

A large mass of rocks and earth that suddenly and quickly moves down the side of a mountain or hill is – landslide.

A long period of dry weather when there is not enough water is – drought.

A very violent wind or storm is - hurricane.

A large amount of snow and ice or of dirt and rocks that slides suddenly down the side of a mountain is – avalanche.

A mountain with a hole called a crater in the top. Sometimes lava and gases release from the crater. It is a volcano.

A series of huge waves that happen after an undersea earthquake or volcano eruption is – tsunami.

A very violent wind in the form of a funnel of air that spins at great speed across land is - tornado.

Earthquakes

An earthquake is one of the worst natural disasters on our earth. We think that the ground we stand on is very stable, but it isn't. It moves quite a lot.

In the middle of the 20th century scientists found out that continents do not always stay in the same place. They have been moving on plates for millions of years.

Most earthquakes happen because the earth's plates move.

The Richter Scale is used to rate the magnitude of earthquakes. Small quakes have a rating of under 4. You won't see a lot of damage here. Medium-sized earthquakes reach between 5 and 7 on the scale, and the really big ones are above 7.

The strongest earthquake that has ever been registered was at 9.5 on the Richter scale in Chile. 20,000 people died (1960).

Hurricane

Hurricanes are giant tropical storms that can pack wind speeds of over 257 km an hour and produce more than 9 trillion liters of rain a day. These same tropical storms are known as cyclones in the northern Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal, and as typhoons in the western Pacific Ocean.

Hurricanes spin around a low-pressure center known as the “eye.” Sinking air makes this 32- to 48-kilometer-wide area calm. But the eye is surrounded by the “eye wall” that hosts the storm’s strongest winds and rain.

Hurricane Katrina was one of the most expensive hurricanes in the history - $81 billion (2005, USA).

With a 100,000+ death toll, Super Typhoon Nina is the deadliest Typhoon in recorded history (1975, China).

The best defense against a hurricane is an accurate forecast that gives people time to get out of its way.

Volcano - is a mountain with a hole called a crater in the top. Sometimes hot lava and toxic gases and ash release from the crater.

Volcanoes tend to exist along the edges between tectonic plates that make up Earth's surface. About 90 percent of the total 1900 volcanoes exist within the Ring of Fire along the edges of the Pacific Ocean.

The world's largest volcano eruption in modern history is Mount Tambora,

in 1815 (It cast a cloud of ash around the world that lasted for several years causing “a year without summer”.

Volсanoes also add nutrients to soils, creating perfect conditions for many crops. Some types of volcano make new sections of the tectonic plates that make up the surface of the Earth. Without volcanoes and our planet's plates, the dry land we live on would not be renewed.

Tornado

There are a few different types of tornadoes that are classified by specific characteristics. These tornadoes include the land spout, the multiple vortex tornadoes, and the waterspout. Other less common tornado-like phenomena that exist are the gustado (the dust devil) and the fire whirl.

Tornadoes have been observed on every continent except Antarctica. However, the vast majority of tornadoes occur in the Tornado Alley region of the United States where many houses have tornado shelters and many towns have tornado sirens.

Floods

A flood occurs when water overflows the land that's normally dry. Floods have a variety of causes including heavy rainfall, tidal surges, melting snow and ice, river obstructions and the failure of manmade structures such as dams.

Landslide

Landslides can be caused by a variety of factors, including: earthquakes, storms, 

volcanic eruptions, fire and by human modification of land.

The biggest landslide in recorded history was triggered by the eruption of Mount St Helens in 1980. Nearly 3km3 of rock moved down slope.

Avalanche

Despite what you may have seen in movies and on television, shouting cannot trigger an avalanche!

Once the avalanche stops, it settles like concrete.

Statistics show that 93 percent of avalanche victims survive if dug out within 15 minutes. Then the survival rates drop fast. After 45 minutes, only 20 to 30 percent of victims are alive. After two hours, very few people survive.

Tsunami

Most tsunamis, about 80 percent, happen within the Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Fire,” where tectonic shifts make volcanoes and earthquakes common.

Hawaii and Alaska are the states at greatest risk for tsunamis. They get about one a year, with a damaging tsunami happening about every seven years.

One of the worst and deadliest tsunamis in world history was in Indonesia, on the 26th of December 2004.

A 9.3 magnitude earthquake triggered a series of giant tsunamis along the coasts of the Indian Ocean. It killed over 230,000 people in fourteen different countries.

Drought

Drought conditions and a heat wave, one of the worst in 150 years, broke temperature records from London to Portugal, fueled forest fires, ruined crops, and caused thousands of deaths. (French fatalities estimated at more than 14,000 (2003).

We cannot stop most natural phenomena. But we can take some measures to anticipate and minimize the damage from natural disasters.

Disaster Management is the body of policy that is aimed at the reduction of harm at all stages of the disaster.

Prevention and Preparedness are the activities prior to a disaster Response – the activities during the disaster.

Recovery are the activities following the disaster.

Mitigation are the activities that reduce the effect of the disaster.

In conclusion, there are two principles everyone should follow:

Prevention is better than cure!

Don’t be scared, be prepared!

Good luck!