The Yungay Earthquake

I was in school. On the blackboard, in big white letters was the date - May 31st 1970. The letters started to dance in front of my eyes. I looked out of the window. There was a noise, like a big lorry in the street. But outside there were only a few empty cars.

What made the noise? The ground was shaking. Suddenly the window broke. I was afraid. I ran out of school and into the street. The ground was moving under my feet.I knew that it was an earthquake. I couldn't believe my eyes. Nearly all buildings were on the ground. In front of me, the earth was moving up and down like a sea.I ran away and swam across the river. On the other side, I started to run again. A great wind carried me along. The earthquake broke off a large piece of the mountain.

50 000 died and another 100 000 people were hurt. Nearly a million lost their homes — that is one out of 13 people in Peru. I think it was the worst earthquake ever.

1.What is an earthquake ?

2.When did the Yungay earthquake take place?

3. How did it begin?

4.What did Juan hear and see?

5. Was the Yungay earthquake the most terrible?

6. How could you behave, what do you do in such situation?

7. What other nature disasters do you know?

*Exercise 8. Say which of the natural disasters you have heard of recently. Where did it happen? How did the disaster influence life in the region?

Start like this:

The world is always changing. Natural disasters are changes which can cause damage to the shape of the land or to the lives of people and other living creatures.

Great changes can happen deep inside the earth or on the surface. The changes on the outer part of the Earth are caused by different kinds of weather.

Finish your story with:

Violent floods, storms, wildfires or earthquakes are frightening even for adults. Natural disasters can be especially dramatic for children.

**Exercise 9. a) You’re going to read the articles about natural disasters. Look through the list of words. Consult the dictionary to know their meanings.

to cause * to overflow * to flood * to affect * to evacuate * to damage

to wash away/through * to bring chaos * to burst * to rescue

a clean-up * to carry away * to float

b) Work in two groups. Read the newspaper articles. Group A reads about the flood in Ukraine. Group B reads about the flood in England.

Group А

Ukraine’s Western Regions Hit by Natural Disaster

August 01, 2008

Five days of heavy rain in the southwestern Carpathian Mountain.i caused the Prut and Dniester rivers to overflow.

Hundreds of towns and villages were flooded, more than 40,000 houses were affected and around 20,000 people were evacuated, officials said. Thousands of people are still in serious danger as the water keeps rising.

The storms have also damaged 360 roads and 561 bridges, washed away 680.1 km of highways, and cut electricity in five western regions (Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Zakarpattia, and Ternopil Oblasts).

Ukraine has not seen anything like that in 100 years.

Heavy floods also hit neighbouring Romania and Moldova.

Group B

Towns Awash after 12 cm Summer Deluge

TWELVE CENTIMETRES OF RAIN fell in nine hours bringing chaos to southwest England yesterday. Rivers burst their banks, and householders had to be rescued from their homes.

An extensive clean-up was under way in Helston, scene of the worst of the deluge. Residents in the lower part of the town had to be evacuated from the first- floor windows as waist-high water washed through the streets, damaging dozens of cars and carrying away furniture.

In the town’s lowest-lying area, water reached the ceilings of some houses, and firemen had to break windows to prevent buildings from collapsing.

Thousands of pounds worth of goods from the supermarket floated out of the door on to the High Street.

Elsewhere the heat continued to cause problems.

Another wave of thunderstorms from France was moving into the South last night.

c) Answer the questions about your article.

1. Where did the disaster strike?

2. Why did the disaster happen?

3. What are the important facts about the consequences of the disaster?

4. What rescue measures were taken?