STAGE
Disaster!
4 Mary McIntosh
Introduction
This ungraded summary is for the teacher’s use only
and should not be given to students.
Chapter Summary
1 Natural disasters
Chapter 1.1 (Vesuvius) looks at the eruptions in AD 79
of the volcano Vesuvius near Naples, Italy. The first
eruption covered the town of Pompeii with ash and
stones killing around 2,000 people. On the second day
a river of hot ash and mud also covered the small town
of Herculaneum. Both towns have been perfectly
preserved and have revealed many aspects of Roman
life nearly 2,000 years ago.
Chapter 1.2 (Earthquakes) describes the worst
earthquake disaster of the twentieth century
in Tangshan, China in 1976. The first earthquake
measured 8.2 on the Richter scale and together with a
second earthquake, is believed to have killed up to half
a million people. The Japanese city of Kobe was also
hit by a serious earthquake in 1995. Although many
Japanese houses are built to withstand earthquakes,
this disaster completely destroyed many buildings in
the city and killed 6,000 people.
Chapter 1.3 (The Asian tsunami) looks at the tsunami
caused by an earthquake under the Indian Ocean on
26 December 2004. After several hours, huge waves
started to hit the coasts of Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka
and India without warning. Hundreds of thousands of
people died and millions lost their homes.
Chapter 1.4 (Hurricane Katrina) covers the New
Orleans flooding disaster. In August 2005, Hurricane
Katrina destroyed three of the levees (walls) which
protect the low-lying city of New Orleans. Over 80 per
cent of the city was flooded and 1,836 people died.
2 Human error
Chapter 2.1 (The Great Fire of London) looks at the
London fire of 1666, which burned for several days
destroying around 13,000 houses and 87 churches.
The fire had important results: many disease-carrying
rats were killed and new healthier houses were built.
Chapter 2.2 (The Titanic) tells the story of the
maiden voyage of the Titanic which, on the night of
14 April 1912, hit an iceberg and started to sink. Over
1,500 people died in the icy waters of the Atlantic.
Chapter 2.3 (Bhopal) describes the chemical leak
at the Union Carbide factory in the Indian city of
31
Bhopal in 1984. On the night of 1 December a lethal
gas accidentally escaped from the factory and spread
silently over the city. Hundreds of people died in their
sleep and other victims rushed to the nearby hospital
with burning eyes and breathing difficulties. Between
5,000 and 15,000 people died in this disaster and at
least 40,000 suffered serious illnesses as a result.
Chapter 2.4 (Challenger and Columbia) covers the
two American space shuttle disasters. On 27 January
1986, the shuttle Challenger took off with six scientists
and an ordinary teacher, Christa McAuliffe, on board.
A short time after take-off the shuttle exploded and all
the crew died. In a further tragedy, the seven person
crew of the Columbia died in 2003 when their shuttle
exploded on its approach back to Earth.
Chapter 2.5 (The Exxon Valdez) describes the
environmental disaster which occurred when the oil
tanker the Exxon Valdez hit rocks off the coast of Alaska.
Over 50 million litres of oil flowed into the sea killing
millions of fish and devastating the local economy.
Chapter 2.6 (Chernobyl) outlines the disaster at the
Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Ukraine. On 25
April 1986, scientists accidentally caused an explosion
in one of the reactors which led to a massive fire and
the release of huge amounts of radiation.
3 Disease
Chapter 3.1 (Eyam and the plague) tells the story of
the inhabitants of Eyam, a village in England. In 1665,
the deadly plague reached the village. However, the
inhabitants cut themselves off from the outside world
and stopped the spread of the disease.
Chapter 3.2 (HIV/Aids – a modern plague) describes
the tragedy of this disease. In 2007, it affected about
40 million people around the world. The disease is
a particularly serious problem in Africa, where large
numbers of children are now left without parents.
© OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
 STAGE
Disaster!
4 Pre-reading activity

Crossword

1 2 3

4 5

6 7

10 11

12

13 14

15

16

Across:
1 to be badly affected by pain, sadness or disease
5 the grey powder that remains after a fire
8 a person who works and travels in space
9 very big
10 a kind of small house made of cloth; you use
this when you go camping
12 wet earth that is soft and sticky
13 to save somebody from danger
15 a deep hole in the ground from which people
get water
16 a very big sea
Down:
2 when a lot of water covers somewhere that is
usually dry
3 a sudden violent shaking of the earth’s surface;
buildings can fall down when this happens
4 a large building used for producing nuclear
energy
6 a small animal with a long tail; it is like a large
mouse
7 a very large piece of ice in the sea
11 all the people who work on a plane or ship
14 the place beyond the Earth where the planets
and stars are

To the teacher
Aim: To introduce key vocabulary
Time: 40–45 minutes
Organization: Give one copy of the worksheet to each
pair of students. Ask them to work together to complete
the crossword. Some of the words come from the
glossary of the book and students could refer to this if
necessary. When the class has completed as much of
the crossword as possible, students could join together
with another pair to compare and share answers. Go
through the answers as a class and check the meaning
of each word.
Key: Across: 1 suffer, 5 ash, 8 astronaut, 9 huge, 10 tent,
12 mud, 13 rescue, 15 well, 16 ocean.
Down: 2 flood, 3 earthquake, 4 reactor, 6 rat, 7 iceberg,
11 crew, 14 space.

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 STAGE
Disaster!
4 While reading activity

Prediction – What, where and when?

Look at the types of disaster, the places and the dates below. Write them in the grid next to
the correct chapter title.
WHAT HAPPENED WHERE WHEN

The Great Fire of

London

The Titanic

Bhopal

Challenger and
Columbia

The Exxon Valdez

Chernobyl

What happened: an oil spill from a tanker, a huge fire in a city, a deadly gas escape at night, a fire at a
nuclear power station, a ship sinking in icy waters, a sudden explosion on a space shuttle

Where: India, Alaska, England, the Ukraine, the Atlantic, above the Earth

When: 1666, 1912, 1984, 1986, 1986, 1989, 2003

To the teacher

Where: Before chapter 2.1
Aim: To encourage students to predict key information
in chapters 2.1 – 2.6
Time: 30–40 minutes
Organization: Tell students they are going to read
the section of the book about disasters caused by
human error. Ask if they know any examples of such
disasters. Then put students into pairs with a copy of
the worksheet. Ask them to look at the chapter titles
on the left of the grid and share with their partner any
information that they might know about the disasters.
Then go through the ‘what happened’ list below the grid
and check any unknown words. Ask students to write
the phrases next to the correct disaster in the ‘what
happened’ column. Students repeat for ‘where’ and
‘when’. Conduct feedback as a class. Encourage students
to give further information about the disasters.
Key: the Great Fire of London – a huge fire in a city,
England, 1666; The Titanic – a ship sinking in icy
waters, the Atlantic, 1912; Bhopal – a deadly gas escape
at night, India, 1984; Challenger and Columbia – a
sudden explosion on a space shuttle, above the Earth,
1986 and 2003; The Exxon Valdez – an oil spill from
a tanker, Alaska, 1989; Chernobyl – a fire at a nuclear
power station, the Ukraine, 1986.

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 STAGE
Disaster!
4 After reading activity

Writing a newspaper article

Choose one of the disaster stories from the book. Then make notes in the grid below to
help you to plan and write a short newspaper article about the disaster. The article should
be from the day after the events happened.

Information about the disaster

Name of disaster
Type of disaster
Causes
Country / city
Date
Time
Number of victims
Information about what
happened in the disaster
Rescue attempts

Useful language
Look back at the chapter on the disaster you are writing about. Find more useful
vocabulary and expressions. Add them to the grid below.
Vocabulary tragedy, disaster, victim, survivor …
destroy, explode, rescue, survive …
Expressions There are reports of a serious … in ….
A huge … has hit the city of …
The … started at … o’clock yesterday morning.
It is estimated that … people have died.
Thousands of … have also been destroyed.
Rescue teams are currently trying to …
Rescuers are concerned that …
Survivors are now …
Possible headlines Massive earthquake hits …
Huge fire destroys …
Hundreds believed dead in … tragedy

To the teacher

Aim: To revise key elements of the disaster stories and
enable students to practise writing a short text
Time: 50 minutes
Organization: Tell students they are going to write a
short newspaper article about one of the disaster stories
from the book. The article will be written the day after
the disaster happened. Give a copy of the worksheet to
each student or pair of students. They must look back
at the relevant chapter in the book and make notes in
the grid at the top of the sheet. Then go through the
vocabulary, expressions and possible headlines as a
class. Encourage students to find more words and
expressions specific to their story and add them to the
second grid. They must also write one or two possible
headlines. Students then write a first draft of their article
in class and a final draft for homework.

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