Mother Nature Enraged: The Poor Pay the Price
"Does nature really attack the poor?”
That guiding question provides a focus for the following learning situation, originally produced by the Service
national du RÉCIT du domaine de l'univers social.
A city subject to natural hazards should be organized in such a way as to ensure the population's safety.
Certain measures should be taken to limit damage resulting from natural disasters. This is not the case in
some parts of the world.
Québec Education Program, Secondary School Education, Cycle One, p. 277
Overview:
Hurricane Katrina hits southern U.S.: Hundreds killed
Source : Wikipedia
Big cities that are subject to natural hazards usually have intervention plans designed to limit damage and
loss of life during disasters. This is the case, for example, for both Quito and San Francisco.
Mississippi and Louisiana are coastal states that border the Gulf of Mexico, an area in which hurricanes are
frequent. Moreover, the city of New Orleans was built on reclaimed swampland several metres below sea
level. In addition to the Mississippi River, several lakes and canals drain the city and are contained by dikes,
which have been built over the years. Rainwater does not drain out of the city on its own; it must be pumped
out to sea.
Source : Wikipedia
Yet at the time when Hurricane Katrina was heading towards Louisiana at the end of August 2005, the city of
New Orleans did not have an emergency evacuation plan. In addition, the maintenance of several dams and
dikes had been neglected for a number of years.
The debate about the various factors behind this negligence is not over. It is clear, however, that the poorest
segments of the population were the hardest hit.
Before Hurricane Katrina, 1.4 million people lived in New Orleans. Louisiana is one of the poorest
states in the U.S.
Source : Wikipédia
A few links, for more information and images:
Hurricane Digital Memory Bank
This site uses electronic media to collect, preserve, and present the stories and digital record of Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita.
http://hurricanearchive.org/
Wikipedia references:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hurricane_Katrina: photo gallery
MSN_NBC feature pages on "Katrina the long road back"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13146989/:
Google Maps: satellite photos of New Orleans.
Hurricane Katrina Imager using Google Earch http://earth.google.com/katrina.html
Also for “Aerial and Satellite Images of Disaster Locations” that include Katrina
http://www.globexplorer.com/disasterimages/index.shtml
http://www.kathryncramer.com/photos/uncategorized/319526.JPG: photo of the breach in the dike
Mother Nature Enraged: QEP connections
How does this learning situation connect to the QEP?
[This section has been moved to the end of the PDF]
Mother Nature Enraged: Task Division Outline
What will students be producing, questioning, learning? And how much time will it take?
The learning situation is broken down into various stages, but first it helps to think about where we are going,
what we are asking ourselves, and then how we will get there.
The Final Product:
A written report, news bulletin or other text
The written report should include a cartoon and visual materials.
The teams that choose to produce a news bulletin must hand in a written version of the script (newsreader,
reporter, witness, law enforcement officials, doctors, etc.).
The report must include:
- Location (map, the country’s context, level of development, etc.)
- Type of hazard and brief history
- Humanitarian aid aspect
- Answer to the original question: Does Mother Nature attack the poorest?
The Learning Process:
Start with the "Guiding Question"
Does Mother Nature attack the poorest?
Follow with the Task Division:
Preparation Phase
• Contexts for natural disasters
Production Phase
• Finding Out about Natural Hazards (2 periods)
• Taking a Calculated Risk: Geographical Sketches (3 periods)
• Double Standards: Bam and San Francisco (2 periods)
• Having an Opinion. Journalist (2 periods)
Integration Phase
Back to the original question!
Mother Nature Enraged: Contexts for natural disasters
Preparation Phase
A preparation phase allows students to situation themselves vis-a-vis recent natural disasters. It provides a
starting point for both teacher and class, and gives a perspective on learning. It re-focuses once again on
the guiding question, and allows students to begin to pose questions that have meaning.
Hook
15 minutes
Use current events to stimulate interest with the help of photos, newspaper cuttings, etc.
Consult Google News , 4,500 news sources updated continuously.
Type in the word “hurricane” for example.
Consider also visiting newspaper web sites local to a current natural disaster or try sites like OneWorld.net
and other international news services which try to " widen the participation of the world's poorest and most
marginalised peoples in the global debate." Search hurricane on OneWorld.net.
Hurricane season in the U.S. falls between July and November, and is always in the news.
The following are some of the hurricanes that have made headlines in the last few years:
• Andrew in 1992
• Mitch in 1998
• Floyd in 1999
• Ivan and Jeanne in 2004
• Katrina in 2005
Consult the Environment Canada site:
http://www.atl.ec.gc.ca/weather/hurricane/hurricanes5.html
MSN_NBC also has an interesting Hurricane tracker service for hurricanes in the Americas:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7845030
Ask students about the consequences of these events:
the people involved, the costs, international aid. Ask students to name other natural hazards that may cause
damage to the planet.
Review
30 minutes
Teacher
The teacher hands out copies of the table of natural disasters (link to PDF or Word doc) to students and
explains that they must note the types of natural disasters they are familiar with by identifying their
characteristics, consequences and risk level.
Students
The students fill out the table on their own. They then divide into teams of 4 to complete the table.
Material and Tasks
Using the table of natural disasters, the students make a list of natural disasters that will serve as a
database for their reports.
Images of Natural Disasters
30 minutes
Typhoon near the Philippines
Teacher
The teacher presents students with images of natural disasters and informs them that theses images will
help them complete their tables. Google images
For more information, consult our growing geography collection of resources on Natural Hazards (Click
here!).
Students
Still in teams of 4, the students complete the table.
Teacher
The teams share their tables with the whole class. The teacher provides the students with additional
information from the statistical tables (frequency, cost and number of deaths).
To find out more, click on the “Faits et Chiffres” section in the www.prevention2000.org site. (French only).
Other statistics are available from the International Strategies for Disaster site in their statitistics section here
http://www.unisdr.org/disaster-statistics/introduction.htm
Problem Question
15 minutes
Teacher
The teacher uses maps to stimulate questions from students and directs the discussion towards the
following question:
Does Mother Nature attack the poorest?
The students formulate starting hypotheses with regard to the problem question.
The teacher writes the hypotheses on flip chart paper, with the problem question in the centre.
Mother Nature Enraged: Finding Out about Natural Hazards
Production Phase 1
1 or 2 class periods The following is an exploration phase that allows students to examine the issues of
natural disasters from different perspectives once again, but this time in a way that provides specific data
and examples that surround the issue. Links to collections of relevant information help students in their
exploration.
Geological and Climatic Hazards
20 minutes
Teacher
The teacher presents various types of natural disasters to the students.
GEOLOGICAL HAZARDS: earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides
CLIMATIC HAZARDS: tropical cyclones, floods, drought
Explore the onsite collection entitled: Cities Subject to Natural Hazards
Also visit
• http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/hazard/hazards.shtml
• http://www.nationalgeographic.com/eye/natures.html
• http://www.prevention2000.org (French only)
Natural Hazards Map
30 minutes
Teacher
The teacher hands out copies of statistical tables on natural disasters in various countries of the world
(frequency, cost and number of deaths) and asks students to construct a map indicating the main risk areas
in the world.
Students
Using the statistical tables, the students build a map of the world (Word format or PDF) including a legend
with a colour code for frequency, dollar signs of different sizes for the costs of damages and people of
different sizes for the number of deaths.
For more statistics and information, consult the geography collection on natural hazards.
Mother Nature Enraged: A calculated risk
Production Phase 2
Sketching a Typhoon & Sketching Pinatubo
2 or 3 class periods
* * * * ** * * * ** * * * ** * * * ** * * * ** * * * *
Sketching a Typhoon (Modeling)
30 minutes
Teacher
The students make general observations about the photo and note the important elements in their
information grid, aware now that the Philippines are subject to typhoons. What explains the inhabitants’
decision to live along the coast in a country that experiences torrential downpours and typhoons?
To find out more about geographical sketches, consult “ What is a geographical sketch?” elsewhere on this
site. (Source www.recitus.qc.ca)
Students
Team 1:
Image 1, introduction and text 1 in the file “tropical_cyclones” in Word or PDF format
The students locate the following on the image: economic centre, urban settlements, industries, flood-risk
areas, buildings, etc. They also identify the most vulnerable areas.
Team 2:
Image 2 and text 2 in the file “tropical_cyclones” in Word or PDF format
The students locate on the image the economic buildings that could be affected by a typhoon. They then
identify the buildings that could be used as shelters for coastal populations.
Team 3:
Image 2 and text 3 in the file “tropical_cyclones” in Word or PDF format
The students identify the various settlements of Manila: major urban centre vs. shantytowns. The goal is to
understand why people settle on the outskirts of Manila.
Sharing with the Class
15 minutes
Teacher
The students share with the class and draw a sketch. The teacher synthesizes observations to draw the
sketch with the whole class:
- Illustrate the economic draw of major urban centres.
- Illustrate the elements of the city that are most at risk.
- Illustrate a solution to protect the population.
Students
The students help the teacher to draw the sketch in a whole-class setting.
See examples of sketches in the file “Tropical Cyclones in Word or PDF format.
Consult also the document “ What is a geographical sketch?”
* * * * ** * * * ** * * * ** * * * ** * * * ** * * * *
Sketching Pinatubo
Sketching Pinatubo (Step 1)
30 minutes
Teacher
Using the working document about sketching Pinutabo in WORD or PDF format, the teacher presents a
translated excerpt from a book chronicling Pinatubo’s eruption. The teacher then questions the students on
people’s reactions to a natural disaster. Finally, the teacher goes over the elements observed with the
students.
Students
The students read the translated excerpt from the book Grandir à Manille : Les 75 000 enfants du père Tritz
by C. Brincourt and G. Lambert (Paris: Bayard Éditions / Centurion, 1995, p. 17–19). The teacher asks for
the students’ impressions about the volcano’s eruption. The students note the consequences of the
volcano’s eruption in the table provided in the document about Pinatubo.
Sketching Pinatubo (Step 2)
30 minutes
Teacher
Using the excerpt about Pinatubo and the UN fact sheet on volcanoes (excerpt from An Overview of
Disaster Management), the students identify the observable consequences of the volcanic eruption on the
photo. The main observable consequence is the ashfall on agricultural land. In the excerpt, they also
mention water buffaloes and crops covered in ash. Grazing lands are mentioned in the UN fact sheet. The
teacher asks the students which is more threatening: the eruption or its consequences?
Students
The students read the excerpt from the UN fact sheet. They note:
- the consequences of a volcanic eruption;
- its effects on human populations.
Once the issues have been identified, the students draw a sketch using the photo of Pinatubo’s eruption.
Material
The students draw a sketch using the various texts and images.
Example of a sketch:
To find out more about geographical sketches, consult the Geography file entitle “What is a geographical
sketch?” and also the How-To called “Make a Geographic Sketch”
For more information on natural hazards, consult the geography file on natural hazards.
Sketching Pinatubo (Step 3)
60 minutes
Teacher
The class draws a synthesis sketch of the consequences of a volcanic eruption and its effects on
surrounding populations.
Students
Based on their reading grids for the document on volcanoes in Word or PDF format, the students use
symbols to identify the consequences of a volcanic eruption and its effects on surrounding populations.
* * * * ** * * * ** * * * ** * * * ** * * * ** * * * *
Mother Nature Enraged: Double Standards
Production Phase 3
Examining news reports and statistics surrounding the way two natural disasters affected the cities and
people of two very different regions can shed a revealing light on how natural disasters affect the different
populations. Are there double standards involved in the way natural disasters are reported, prepared for,
dealt with during and after the event? At this stage in the production process, students gather and organize
information and make their own conclusions.
2 class periods
News and Natural Hazards
15 minutes
Teacher
The teacher distributes the Seismic Monitor image, the texts about the San Francisco
and Bam earthquakes and the blank observation grid.
Students
The students observe image 1 (Seismic Monitor) and read the two texts about the San
Francisco (text 1) and Bam (text 2) earthquakes on their own. They describe the
geographical situations of the two cities as well as the physical and human
consequences of the two earthquakes. They also note the main differences between
the two situations (such as the number of victims in each case).
20 minutes
Teacher
The teacher explains to the students that they must complete the observation grid
based on their readings.
Students
The students complete the observation grid on their own or in teams. The students can
use the newspaper articles as models for writing their own articles or reports.
Bam and San Francisco
15 minutes
Teacher
The teacher distributes the images of Bam and San Francisco and the texts about the
types of buildings and economic development in each city. The teacher asks the
students to underline the most important elements in these texts.
Students
Using the two images of Bam and San Francisco as well as the texts about the types of
buildings and economic development in each city, the students note their observations
and underline the most important elements in the texts.
20 minutes
Teacher
The teacher distributes the blank tables on types of buildings and asks the students to
complete them according to their observations.
Students
The students complete the tables on their own or in teams.
30 minutes
Teacher
The teacher asks the students to write their own conclusions with respect to this
activity. The teacher then leads a discussion on possible solutions and the prevention
of earthquakes in developing countries.
Students
The students write up their conclusions by answering the question at the end of this
activity. The students express their opinions, propose possible solutions and discuss
the international solidarity movement.
About the earthquake in Bam in Iran:
“The spirit of humanity goes beyond politics, religion, regionalism and shows how we
can unite the world,” declared Dr. Kamal Kharrazi, the Iranian Foreign Minister. “The
Iranian people have witnessed first hand this sense of unity through the abundance of
international assistance provided during the last two weeks.”
Photos from Canadian Red Cross relief centres
Update: Search albums at https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadian_redcross/albums
Source: Canadian Red Cross
Mother Nature Enraged: Having an Opinion
Production phase 4
2 class periods
Back to the Original Question
15 minutes
Teacher
The teacher takes the students back to the original problem question:
Does Mother Nature attack the poorest?
The students look over their starting hypotheses and engage in a brief debate.
The teacher presents the cartoon “Pollution and typhoons: A dangerous mix”:
Click on the image to enlarge.
The teacher elaborates on the starting question for the students:
Are the richest countries responsible for the misfortunes of the poorest countries?
How can the richest countries help the poorest countries?
Report
150 minutes
Students
The students produce a report. See details in the task division above
Presentations
The time required for presentations will vary according to the number of presentations.
Students
The students who have produces a news bulletin present their projects.
Mother Nature Enraged: Getting back to the original question
Integration phase
30 minutes
Teacher
The teacher goes over the students’ presentations and ensures they have not made any erroneous
interpretations.
Does Mother Nature attack the poorest?
The poorest countries are more vulnerable: they have less money with which to ensure the safety of their
populations, establish prevention measures, build safer dwellings and infrastructures, etc.
How can the richest countries help the poorest countries?
Are the richest countries in part responsible for the misfortunes of the poorest countries?
- Reducing pollution (see cartoon)
- International aid programs
- Education and prevention
The teacher helps students qualify their interventions.
Evaluation
[Evaluation packages were never completed for this LES]
This task was created by Steve Quirion, Jacques Trudel, Marc Lafortune, Jean-Philippe Gemme and the
Groupe de travail en univers social at the Commission scolaire de la Pointe-de-l’Île.
www.recitus.qc.ca
Mother Nature Enraged: QEP connections
How does this learning situation connect to the QEP?
Broad Areas of Learning:
Citizenship and Community Life
Focuses of Development:
To have the student see the interdependence of individuals, generations and peoples, and also to
familiarize him/her with situations of international cooperation.
Pedagogical Aim
To have the student identify various natural hazards and assess their consequences in an urban
environment. To demonstrate that level of development has a great influence on the consequences of a
natural hazard. Finally, to have the student define the concept of natural hazard management in a context of
international solidarity: saving life and reducing economic disruption.
Cross-Curricular Competencies:
Uses information and communication technologies
Subject-Specific Competencies and Relevant Key Features:
Competency 1: Understands the organization of a territory
• Deconstructs landscapes in the territory: Explores the feelings these landscapes arouse
• Grasps the meaning of human actions with regard to the territory: Looks for the reasons underlying human
actions
Competency 2: Interprets a territorial issue
• Considers how the territorial issue is dealt with: Looks for the collective interest
• Describes the complexity of the territorial issue: Specifies the role of certain natural and human factors of
the past and present
Competency 3: Constructs his/her consciousness of global citizenship
• Shows the global nature of a geographic phenomenon: Observes that a given geographic phenomenon
occurs in many territories
• Examines human actions in terms of the future: Identifies implications of these actions for the planet from
the perspective of responsible management and sustainable development
Evaluates solutions to global issues: Recognizes possible solutions
ANNEXESINTOPDFFORMFROMWEBSITE:
Source : http://www.iris.edu/
Magnitude 6.5 earthquake shakes California, kills two
BY BRIAN SKOLOFF
PASO ROBLES – A magnitude-6.5 earthquake ripped through Central California wine country
Monday, killing at least 2 people as it brought down old downtown buildings in Paso Robles and
rocked the state from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Firefighters dug through debris in front of a
row of stores in the small San Luis Obispo County town, about 20 miles east of the epicenter, that
appeared to be hardest hit by the jolt. The 11:16 a.m. quake hurled the roof of the town's 1892
clock tower building into a street, crushing a row of parked cars.
"It started out sounding like a freight train going by. Then I realized it was a quake," said Nick
Sherwin, 61, who operated Pan Jewelers in the building. He said he had ordered five employees
and eight customers out but "the big jolt hit" when he was about 10 feet from the door.
Two people were confirmed dead in Paso Robles by early afternoon, said Ron Alsop, emergency
services coordinator in the largely rural county of about 250,000 people. A third person was
missing there, he said. Alsop earlier reported a third death, but said he later received conflicting
information.
"My roof basically jumped onto the street and landed on cars with people in them," Sherwin said
as he watched firefighters recover the bodies. The cars "are crushed like little toys, nothing left."
The main shock at 11:16 a.m. was centered 10.7 miles north of coastal Cambria and was
immediately followed by at least five aftershocks of magnitude larger than 3.3. The largest, an
estimated magnitude-4.7, hit at 11:26 a.m., according to preliminary data from the U.S. Geological
Survey.
The quake rocked the federal courthouse in San Francisco, 165 miles to the northwest of the
epicenter. Upper floors in that building swayed for about 30 seconds. It was felt as a sustained
rolling motion in downtown Los Angeles, 185 miles southeast. It was also felt in much of the
Central Valley.
Several people were also reported hurt by falling barrels at a winery, San Luis Obispo County
authorities said.
Firefighters were searching debris along a block of collapsed buildings in the town of 25,000 about
20 miles east of the epicenter. Cars were also crushed by the collapse.
Several people were also reported hurt by falling barrels at a winery, San Luis Obispo County
authorities said.
Firefighters responded to a fire within Cambria, but it was unclear if it was related to the quake,
said fire information spokesman Gilbert Portillo.
"Everything else seems to be little things, like medical aid and some gas leaking," Portillo added.
Firefighters responded to a fire within Cambria, but it was unclear if it was related to the quake,
said fire information spokesman Gilbert Portillo.
Other than Paso Robles, damage appeared minor elsewhere in the region.
Approximately 10,000 homes and businesses were without power in the San Luis Obispo area,
said John Nelson, spokesman for Pacific Gas and Electric.
Phone service became spotty as the system quickly overloaded.
"It was pretty sharp," said Sharyn Conn, receptionist at the oceanside Cypress Cove Inn in
Cambria. "It really went on and on. I just got everyone under the door frames and rode it out."
Cambria is a town of 6,200 on the northern coast of San Luis Obispo County, where some
250,000 people live. The area's major landmark is Hearst Castle at San Simeon, the estate of the
late publisher William Randolph Hearst.
Hearst Castle reported no obvious damage and no injuries, but was evacuated, said Roy Stearns,
spokesman for the state Department of Parks and Recreation.
"Their first quick review, they didn't see anything serious," said Stearns. But a crew was being
organized to go through each of the castle's 150 rooms to look more carefully.
The only known damage was a blown transformer in the campground below the hill, Stearns said.
The quake was felt in the control room of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant operated by
Pacific Gas & Electric. Nelson said there appeared to be no damage to the plant and that it was
functioning normally, but officials will conduct a "walkthrough" to determine if there was any
damage.
The quake occurred on the Oceanic fault zone, which runs from north of San Simeon southeast to
the Santa Lucia Range, mountains being pushed upward by such quakes, said seismologist David
Oppenheimer with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park.
The quake likely pushed the range farther upward.
The area is crisscrossed with multiple thrust faults, said Lucy Jones, scientist in charged of the
U.S. Geological Survey office in Pasadena
In an earthquake on a thrust fault, one block is pushed upward against another block, as if moving
up a ramp. Monday's quake was the same general type of quake as 1994's Northridge
earthquake, said Tom Heaton, professor of earthquake engineering at the California Institute of
Technology.
"This probably shook strong enough you would expect all kinds of damage to the contents of
houses," Heaton said. He added landslides were also possible.
Superintendent Pamela Martens of the Coast Unified School District in Cambria said school was
adjourned for the holidays and there were no reports of injuries among staff.
"Right now we're seeing things off the shelf and all over the place. Computers are down," she said.
Tad Weber, managing editor of The Tribune in San Luis Obispo about 30 miles southeast of
Cambria, said he was in a meeting when "all of a sudden there was a jolting and we look up and
see the building swaying. I dove under a desk to wait it out. At first we thought it was a heavy truck
but it just kept going. We all called our families and they were all OK."
Aftershocks rattled central California Tuesday as crews tallied damage from a magnitude-6.5
earthquake that killed two people, injured dozens and badly damaged the business district of this
wine country town.
Gov. Arnold Scwharzenegger toured downtown Paso Robles, where both fatalities occurred when
Monday's 11:16 a.m. quake toppled a 19th century building with a landmark clock tower, and
declared a state of emergency in San Luis Obispo County.
"At 11 a.m. yesterday this was an American main street, alive with energy. ... Today this is a site of
devastation. But we will come together once again as Californians and as neighbors. We will
rebuild this town square," Schwarzenegger said.
People from San Francisco to Los Angeles were shaken by Monday's quake, the first to cause
fatalities in the state since a magnitude-6.7 temblor hit Northridge in 1994.
In Paso Robles, about 20 miles east of the epicenter, the bodies of two women were pulled from
under the roof the clock tower building, which pitched into the street and crushed a row of parked
cars.
The main shock was centered in a sparsely populated area about 11 miles north of the coastal
town of Cambria. It was followed Monday and early Tuesday by more than 90 aftershocks larger
than 3.0, the biggest of which was estimated at 4.7, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
There were seven aftershocks of 4.0 to 4.6 on Tuesday morning.
The state Office of Emergency Services said there was a 90 percent or greater probability that
aftershocks of 5.0 magnitude or greater would follow in the next week.
By Monday night, search and rescue crews in Paso Robles had combed all seriously damaged
buildings and were confident they had found all the quake's victims, though the owner of one car
crushed in the rubble had still not been found.
"We're out of rescue mode and now it's just going to be general debris removal," said Battalion
Chief Scott Hall of the Ventura County Fire Department.
Mayor Frank Mecham said Tuesday that 82 downtown buildings had been identified for possible
damage and recommended for further inspection. He predicted the economic impact of the quake
on the city of 25,000 would be "significant."
"This downtown has been a very vital element to this community," he said.
"All we're waiting for is the governor to declare an emergency. Then we'll be asking for federal
assistance."
The bodies of Jennifer Myrick, 20, of Atascadero, and Marilyn Zafuto, 55, of Paso Robles, were
found on the street outside a dress shop on Monday.
"It appeared as though they were trying to get away," Paso Robles police Sgt. Bob Adams said.
A young boy suffered a broken arm and another person received minor injuries when a bakery
collapsed, while citywide there were reports of about 40 minor injuries, said Adams.
Light rain fell Tuesday morning as crews were to resume clearing debris in the downtown area,
much of which remained off-limits to the public.
The quake shook the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, the estate of the legendary publisher William
Randolph Hearst. The castle reported no injuries and no immediate signs of any serious damage.
It was scheduled to be open Tuesday.
The quake also shook the federal courthouse in San Francisco, 165 miles to the northwest of the
epicenter, and sent the building's upper floors swaying for about 30 seconds. People in downtown
Los Angeles, 185 miles southeast, felt a sustained rolling motion.
In Paso Robles, residents described a scene of falling bricks, collapsing ceilings and panicked
Christmas shoppers.
The historic clock tower structure, sometimes called the Acorn Building, was made of wood and
unreinforced masonry, Adams said -- a type of construction no longer allowed under modern
building codes.
Marilyn Curry watched the buildings collapse from her law firm across the street, then ran to a city
park where people were frantically searching for others they knew.
"There were people shouting outside 'Oh my God, Oh my God,"' she said. "Everybody was just
shaking, then we were all just grabbing onto each other. There was a lot of hugging going on."
Other than Paso Robles, damage appeared minor elsewhere in the region known for wineries and
horse ranches. A worker at Wild Horse Winery in Templeton suffered minor injuries when barrels
fell on her, authorities said.
About 75,000 homes and businesses in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties initially lost
power after the quake, said Pacific Gas & Electric spokesman Bill Roake. By Tuesday morning,
power was restored to all but 1,600 customers, he said.
The quake was felt in the control room of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant operated by
PG&E. Nelson said that there appeared to be no damage to the plant and that it was functioning
normally.
The quake struck in a known fault zone on a series of faults that run parallel to the San Andreas
Fault, said Lucy Jones, scientist in charge of the U.S. Geological Survey office in Pasadena.
The last one of a similar size in the area was in 1952, said Ross Stein of the USGS in Menlo Park.
"This probably shook strong enough you would expect all kinds of damage to the contents of
houses," said Tom Heaton, professor of earthquake engineering at the California Institute of
Technology. He added that landslides were also possible.
Monday's quake was the state's most powerful since 1999, when a nonfatal magnitude-7.1 temblor
struck the desert near Joshua Tree.
The 1994 Northridge quake hit a densely populated area near Los Angeles and killed 72 people,
injured 9,000 and caused an estimated $15.3 billion in insured losses.
Rebuilding Bam
March 2, 2004—Last December, the ancient city of Bam, in southern Iran, was hit by an
earthquake that killed more than 43,000 of the 100,000 residents and injured another 25,000. The
city also lost 85 percent of its buildings and a 2,000-year-old citadel, Argo-e-Bam, when the quake
struck at 5:30 on the morning of December 26, while most people were still asleep.
Total damage was estimated at US$1.5 billion. Housing was hit worst, with damages reaching
more than $700 million. Agriculture, commerce and manufacturing—key economic sectors in
Bam—are expected to sustain combined losses totaling approximately $300 million.
Hedi Larbi has just returned from Iran where he was a member of the Bank's team working with
Iranian authorities to help design a post-recovery strategy. Mr. Larba, sector manager in Urban
and Transport Sectors for the Middle East and North Africa region, spoke with DevNews about
what he saw and how recovery efforts, which Iranian authorities say will take 24 to 36 months, are
proceeding.
What has been the Bank's role in Bam's post-recovery?
The Iranian authorities requested our assistance for damage assessment and planning of
reconstruction program. A Bank multi-sectoral team went to Bam to carry out a comprehensive
damage assessment with them.
We prepared a thorough damage assessment report that details losses in all areas-the impact on
the economic sector, infrastructure, social services, etc., and estimates the costs of reconstruction.
We shared this report with the authorities who are now reviewing it.Nous avons préparé un rapport
d’évaluation détaillée des pertes subies dans tous les domaines notamment l’impact sur le secteur
économique, les infrastructures, les services sociaux etc., et des estimations des coûts de
reconstruction. Nous avons transmis ce rapport aux autorités qui l’examinent actuellement.
Now we are assembling a multi-sectoral team to prepare the reconstruction program alongside the
authorities on the scope and implementation arrangement for recovery and reconstruction.
The team just left for Bam, where they will stay there until March 20 or so. They will agree with the
authorities on the scope of reconstruction. They'll outline a program, as well as its costing and
financing.
Then, we'll put in place appropriate institutional arrangements to help the authorities implement the
program expeditiously. So after the team returns from Bam, we'll prepare an emergency loan that
we plan to negotiate in May.
Excerpted from:
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20174956~pagePK:34370~
piPK:42768~theSitePK:4607,00.html (Follow link for more pictures)
Observations
Geographic
situation of city or
region
City 1
Specific words
(vocabulary)
City 2
Differences observed :
Observations about the image :
Physical effects of
the earthquake
Human consequences of
the earthquake
Bam (Iran)
http://www.art-arena.com/land.htm
San Francisco (United States)
BUILDING TYPES AND EARTHQUAKES
Everyone today knows it’s not earthquakes that kill people, but it’s the buildings. Through the
dramatic history of major earthquakes, construction specialists have gained experience and have
improved the effectiveness of standards in paraseismic construction methods.
Prevention remains, for the moment, the best means of limiting human loss caused by earthquakes.
That hope rests on the construction of buildings and roads according to norms which are more in
earthquake resistant: buildings with simple layouts (square, rectangular, circular), with light roofs made
of break-resistant materials (rigid yet supple); Provision of flexible joints between the nearby buildings,
to prevent that while being jostled too strongly they do not collapse.
But these techniques are not always effective, and their high cost only makes them available to
wealthier countries.
Source : Revue Préventique Sécurité n°69
HOPES FADING FOR FURTHER [BAM] IRAN QUAKE SURVIVORS
Ari Vakkilainen of Finn Rescues, a Finnish government international rescue organisation, told AFP at
the airport: “I think there are not many people still alive under the rubble because of the way the
buildings here are made.”
The bricks generally used in building here are of baked mud that turn to dust and sand when buildings
collapse, which means there are not many air pockets.
“Even with a good air pocket, 72 hours is about the absolute maximum that somebody can survive
under the rubble,” Vakkilainen, who is a fire chief in his day job, said. “That leaves us about 20 hours to
find people so I don’t think the chances of finding a good deal of survivors are very good at all.”
Original Source New Age, December 29, 2003
Online at http://www.bcas.net/Env.Features/NaturalHazards/2003/December2003/16%20to%2031.htm
POURQUOI TANT DE VICTIMES?
"Mehdi Masoumi, spokesman for the hunger strikers setup in the church of Minimes in Brussels, points
out that the seism was not as heavy as the number of victims would suggest it. It had a magnitude of
6,6. That of San Francisco in 1989, with a magnitude of 7,1, caused damage worth 10 billion dollars but
claimed only 63 victims. The earthquake of Kobe, in Japan, in 1995 (magnitude of 7,1) claimed 5.500
victims, while that of California in 1995 (magnitude 6,5) only two. Currently, it is possible to build
buildings that resist earthquakes. Why then speak about natural disaster? Responsibility lies with our
global economic system which keeps the major part of humanity in poverty, thus blocking them from
access to necessary technologies. And as it is often the case, Western assistance is done in a
colonialist spirit.”
Extrait de Luc Vancauwenberge
L’ARCHITECTURE À SAN FRANCISCO
« La superposition d’innombrables bâtiments de bois et de stuc grimpant à l’assaut des
collines de San Francisco donne parfois l’impression d’un bric-à-brac bon enfant qui
pourrait dégringoler au moindre coup de vent.
Les bâtiments à ossature de bois assurent une excellente protection des
occupants lors de tremblements de terre. Le peu de dommages graves est
attribuable aux faits que la population est clairsemée dans la zone épicentrale et que la
plupart des bâtiments y sont en rondins ou ont une charpente en bois et ne component
qu'un ou deux étages. Ce type de bâtiments s'est avéré des plus résistants aux
tremblements de terre parce qu'il peut ployer sans subir de dommages.
C’est l’un de leurs avantages, et il est clairement établi qu’en cas de
séisme, une maison à plate-forme de bois est un des endroits
les plus sécuritaires.
Le bois est un matériau de construction qui présente certains avantages par rapport aux
autres matériaux en ce qui a trait à la résistance aux séismes. Il est résistant mais léger, si
bien que les accélérations du sol libèrent beaucoup moins d’énergie dans les charpentes
faiter en bois. Autre avantage, les charpentes faites en bois sont plus flexibles qu’avec les
autres matériaux, ce qui leur permet d’absorber et de dissiper l’énergie. »
Extrait de la Commission géologique du Canada
Solidarity
“The spirit of humanity goes beyond politics, religion, regionalism and shows how we can unite the
world,” Dr. Kamal Kharrazi, the Iranian Foreign Minister. “The Iranian people have witnessed first hand
this sense of unity through the abundance of international assistance provided during the last two
weeks.”
Source: Canadian Red Cross
International Federation and UN launch their appeals for Bam earthquake
By Suzanne Charest in Bam, Iran
http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=007762&tid=032
Photo galleries of Canadian Red Cross relief efforts in Iran
http://www.redcross.ca/gallery.asp?id=007665&tid=001