Current Events Lesson Plan: April 15-21, 2016
Current Event: Earthquakes
Deadly earthquakes recently struck Japan and Ecuador. On April 14 and 16, 6.2- and 7.0-magnitude earthquakes struck the Japanese island of Kyushu. Dozens of people died in the two quakes. After the second quake, heavy storms began in Japan, hampering rescuers racing to save people buried in landslides. On April 16, Ecuador experienced a 7.8-magnitude earthquake. Hundreds of people died in this quake. Both Japan and Ecuador are located on the Ring of Fire, a seismically active section of Earth created by the movement of tectonic plates. Experts state, however, that the Japan and Ecuador earthquakes were unrelated events. The areas are 9,000 miles (14,500 kilometers) apart, and they experienced different types of earthquakes.
Objective:
An earthquake is a shaking of the ground caused by a sudden shift in Earth’s rocky outer shell. A severe earthquake may release 10,000 times as much energy as did the first atomic bomb. The shaking can damage buildings, bridges, and other structures so badly that they fall down. Earthquakes can also cause avalanches, landslides, and tsunamis. Scientists think that several million earthquakes occur every year. However, only about 150 are strong enough to cause significant loss of life. Earthquakes almost never kill people directly. Instead, they cause death or injury through falling objects and the collapse of buildings, bridges, and other structures. Scientists cannot predict the exact time, place, and magnitude of an earthquake. However, they can often make forecasts about the likelihood of a strong quake for regions with well-known earthquake histories. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore earthquakes and other natural disasters.
Words to know:
- Disaster
- Earthquake
- Ecuador
- Japan
- Moment magnitude
- Plate tectonics
- Richter magnitude
- Ring of Fire
- Seismology
Discussion Topics:
1. Ask your students what they know about Japan. (They might say Japan is an island country in Asia; Tokyo is the country’s capital and largest city; Japan is one of the most densely populated countries in the world; Japan has one of the largest economies in the world in terms of GDP; Japan’s tallest mountain is Mount Fuji, an inactive volcano.)
2. Ask your students what they know about Ecuador. (They might say Ecuador is in South America; the equator crosses Ecuador—in fact, Ecuador is the Spanish word for equator; Quito is Ecuador’s capital and Guayaquil is its largest city; the Galapagos Islands, which were made famous by British biologist Charles Darwin, belong to Ecuador; Cotopaxi, one of the highest active volcanoes in the world, is in Ecuador; the Andes Mountains rise through much of Ecuador.)
3. Ask your students what they can do to protect themselves in an earthquake. (Students might say that they can drop to the ground and take cover under a table or other sturdy piece of furniture; stay away from windows or anything that could fall, such as a bookcase; stay inside until they are sure it is safe to exit; or move away from buildings, if outside.)
4. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view or add to the Major Disasters timeline.