What happened in the Indian Ocean at the end of last year?

A terrible tsunami broke out there on December 26th. More than 200,000 people were killed.

Question

A tsunami is an undersea earthquake.

Can you tell some famous land earthquakes?

Pakistan Earthquake 2005 On October 8th, a terrible earthquake which measured 7.6 on the Richter scale happened in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. And Pakistan was the most serious-affected country, in which 38,000 people died, 62,000 people injured and 25,000 people were homeless.

San Francisco 1989

A wide and busy road fell onto the other one

Many people were killed in their cars, but a few lucky ones were not hurt.

These buildings were over 50 years old, so they were not strong enough.

There were a lot of fires all over the city. The electricity was cut off for several days too.

San Francisco 1989

On October 17, 1989,an earthquake measuring 7.1 on The Richter scale struck San Francisco,

The Tangshan Earthquake in 1976

On July 28, 1976 , one of the largest earthquakes that measured 8.2 on the Richter scale hit the industrial city of Tangshan in Hebei , China, which let 242,419 people dead,164,581 people severely injured. The earthquake hit at 3:42 in the morning, lasting for around 15 seconds. It was followed by a major 7.1 magnitude aftershock some 15 hours later, increasing the death toll.

Tangshan Earthquake 1976

What might happen in an earthquake?

The buildings, the roads, the railway tracks, bridges… would be destroyed.People would be killed or be trapped. Big holes would appear in the earth.

Task 1

Task 2

Do you know any other natural disasters? What will happen during the disasters?

Earthquake

Floods

Drought

Typhoon/hurricane

Tornadoes

Volcano eruption

natural disasters

floods

drought

typhoons/hurricanestornadoes

volcano eruption

earthquake

Task 3

Do you know why an earthquake happens?

San Francisco

Pacific plateAmerican plate

Eurasian plate

India plate

African plate

Antarctic plate

Paragraph 4

•Pacific plate

North

South

West East

American plate

Earthquake Happens

Activity 1: questions answering

• 1. What is the listening text mainly about?

• 2. Can we stop the earthquake?

It is abut the cause of earthquakes and how we can reduce loses from them.

No, we can’t . But we can do things to make sure they do not destroy whole cities.

Activity 2: True or false ( ) 1. Inside the earth there are a number of plates.

( ) 2.These plates move all the time. ( ) 3. If they stop moving there is an earthquake. ( ) 4. If they jump there is an earthquake. ( ) 5. China is in an earthquake area. ( ) 6.The Pacific plate is pushing China from the east . ( ) 7.The Himalayan mountains were caused by the

movement of plates. ( ) 8. Human beings have the power to stop

earthquakes.

T

F

FF

T

T

T

F

Activity 3: Multiple choices

1. Which plate does the Pacific plate move towards in the USA?

A. San Francisco plate B. Indian plate C. North American plate D. California plate

2. The Pacific plate is moving at _____ centimeters a year.

A. 3.5 B. 5.6 C. 6.5 D. 5.3

3. How many meters did the Pacific plate jump when the 1906 earthquake happened?

A. 3.5 B. 5-6 C. 6-5 D. 5.3 4. How does Indian plate push on China? A. from east B. from southwest C. from west D. from north5. Why does China have an unlucky place on the

earth? A. The Pacific plate pushes on China. B. China is in the place where two plates join together . C. The Indian plate pushes on China. D. Because of the movement of Pacific plate and

Indian plate in China.

Activity 4: Fill in the blanks

We cannot (1)_______ earthquake, but we can (2)_____________ to make sure they do not (3) _______ the whole cities. First, it is not a good idea to (4)________________________ where two of the (5)___________ join together. Second, if you think there maybe an earthquake ,it is better to build houses (6)___________ than (7)____________. Third, you must make the houses (8) __________________. weak houses will (9)___________in an earthquake, but (10)____________________.

on rockon sand

earth’s plates

strong ones may stay up

destroy

fall down

stop do things

as strong as possible

build houses along the lines