Natural disasters

Tsunami  Flood

Tornado/Twister

Fire
Hurricane 

Earthquake 

Forest fire Drought 

Eruption
Avalanche Heat
 Vocabulary
- жара
- пожар
- лавина 
- смерч 
- наводнение 
- землетрясение 

Match the natural disaster with description

It is the point in which a volcano is active an releases
Volcanic eruption lava and poisonous gases into the air. Somethimes only
clouds of ash and steam flow and travel at high speed.

It is a series of huge waves caused by movements

above and below water which can be caused by
Earthquake  earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or orher underwater
explosions.

It is a long period of time when a vast area suffers

Tsunami  severely from the lack of water. This has a dramatic
impact on the ecosystem and people's lives.

It occurs when the plates of the earth start to move

Drought  and shake. It can destroy a complete city or go
unnoticed.
 Hurricane 
Every day we read or hear news about
natural disasters throughout the world.
No matter where we live, we always learn
about an earthquake, a flood, a tsunami or
volcanic eruption nearby.
Hurricanes are the real deal of natural
disasters.  Their paths are totally out of
our control and their winds can wipe away
a coastline in no time. These tropical
cyclones typically form in the  eastern
Pacific  Ocean,    Caribbean  Sea,  southern
Atlantic Ocean and  Gulf of Mexico and
move in-land causing flash floods,
mudslides and irreparable damage to
communities and habitats.

Interesting facts  
1.) Winds must be at least 74 mph to be classified as a
hurricane, anything less than 74 mph is considered a
tropical storm and less than 39 mph is considered a
tropical depression.

2.) Every hurricane gets its own name (ex: Floyd, Hugo).
Depending on the level of destruction the name can be
retired, removed and replaced on the list (ex: Katrina).

3.) A huge hurricane can release energy equivalent to 10 atomic bombs per
second.

4.) John was the longest lasting hurricane at 31 days. It formed in the
Pacific Ocean and eventually got categorized as a typhoon.
Complete the following crossword with names of natural disasters.

1 2

3 4

Across
5. It is a slide of large masses of snow dowm a mountain.

6. It is a violent storm especially in the western Atlantis ocean.

7. It consists of a large amount of water which usually covers

dry lands.
Down
1. The Earth shakes and this results in buildings falling down.
2. It is something referred to as tidal wave.
3. It is associated with thick lava and ashes.
4. It is powerful storm in which winds move around a central point.
 Do you know why hurricanes are given women’s names?

Originally, hurricanes were given the names of saints who

were honoured on the day occurred: but if two hurricanes hit on
the same day, the second one carried an ordinal number after
its name, for example, hurricane St. George and Hurricane St.
George II. By the end of 19th century, Clement Wragge, an
Australian meteorologist started naming storms using the
letters of the Greek alphabet. 

Formerly, in the United States, storms were labelled according

to the latitude or longitude where the hurricane originated.
This system was difficult to communicate and many errors
occurred during radio transmissions. Thus, during the Second
World War military meteorologists settled in the Pacific Ocean
started giving women’s names to hurricanes and tropical storms.
As this method was easier to use, the USA National hurricane
center adopted it to name storms in the Atlantic Ocean in 1953.
The first one was the Tropical Storm Alice.

In the 1970 female meteorologist raised their voices against

this denomination because it was considered sexist. As a result,
from 1978 up to now, women and men’s names have both been
accepted. Every year a list of 21 names is drawn up in
alphabetical order. Each letter is used only once but names
beginning with the letters Q,U,X,Y and Z are not used. The
first hurricane or tropical storm of the year receives the name
with the letter A, the second with the letter B and so on.

Some names are retired from the list when the storm has
destroyed large areas and cause many casualties, such as the
hurricane Katrina, whose name will not be used again.
 The most dangerous natural disasters
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami

A magnitude-9.3 temblor struck undersea

off the west coast of Sumatra on Dec. 26,
2004, creating a massive tsunami that
killed people in 14 separate countries. The
overall death toll is estimated at between
230,000 and 280,000 people. In some
places, especially hardest-hit Indonesia,
the tsunami wave reached 98 feet (30
meters) in height. Indonesia had the
highest death toll of any country, with
126,473 confirmed dead and 93,943
missing, according to official government
figures. Sri Lanka followed, with a total of
36,594 dead or missing.

Cyclone Nargis, Burma, Sri Lanka, 2008

At the end of April 2008, Cyclone

Nargis hit Sri Lanka and Burma,
causing widespread destruction. In
Sri Lanka, the cyclone caused
massive flooding and landslides, and
in Burma it resulted in over 100,000
deaths. Overall, 150,000 people died
in the cyclone and its aftermath,
50,000 went missing, and the nations
incurred a $10 billion damages bill.
Match the pictures and the words