Punctuation: Match the Symbols. What is a flood? Introduction to Flooding Many of us have this idea that floods (or flooding) is simply, too much water around your house.
People think that can be fun. Wrong. Flooding is a lot more than that. Flooding is extremely dangerous and has the potential to wipe away an entire city, coastline or area, and cause extensive damage to life and property. What is a flood? It is a natural event or occurrence where a piece of land (or area) that is usually dry land, suddenly gets submerged under water. When floods happen in an area that people live, the water carries along objects like houses, bridges, cars, furniture and even people. Floods occur at irregular intervals and vary in size, duration and the affected area. It is important to note that water naturally flows from high areas to low lying areas.
In this lesson, we shall see more about what causes flooding, the types of flooding, some effects of floods and what we can do before, during and after floods occur. Weather Wiz. Thunderstorms What is a thunderstorm?
A thunderstorm is a storm with lightning and thunder. Its produced by a cumulonimbus cloud, usually producing gusty winds, heavy rain and sometimes hail. What causes a thunderstorm? The basic ingredients used to make a thunderstorm are moisture, unstable air and lift. You need moisture to form clouds and rain. When are thunderstorms most likely to occur? How many thunderstorms are there every day? What is a volcano? Introduction to volcanoes The earth's mountains, plains, plateaus, soils, rocks, etc. as we see it today is believed to have gone through many phases, with about 80% of it being carved out by the action of volcanoes.
A volcano is simply a rapture (opening or vent) on the earth's surface (crust) through which molten magma (extremely hot mixture of gases, lava, ash and other burning substances) escape on to the earth's surface. How do Volcanoes look like? A volcano looks like a mountain, although they are two different things.A mountain is a large natural rise of the earth's surface, more like a giant heap of sand. A volcano is also like a big heap of earth just that this heap is a mixture of lava, ash, dust, and other substances that have piled up over many years.
In May 1980, the Mountain St. Volcanoes occur at weak zones or points in the earth’s crust (including constructive and destructive boundaries). Now we shall see in a bit more detail how volcanoes come about. Experience the Haiti earthquake. Quiz Whiz: Volcanoes. Animated guide: Volcanoes. Natural Disasters. 1.
Most natural disasters are caused by weather. Weather disasters can be caused by hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, tsunamis, thunderstorms, wind storms, wildfires, avalanches, and blizzards. 2. Some of the weather disasters can be predicted such as hurricanes and blizzards. The technology is getting better in predicting tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. Animated guide: Volcanoes. Inside disaster haiti. Six weeks after the Haiti shock, Chile was struck by an 8.8-magnitude earthquake.
It was 500 times more powerful than the Haiti quake, yet killed less than 1% of the Haitian total. In this section, we explore answers to the question: why was the Haiti earthquake so destructive? This Flash piece is 525 x 372. To embed it in your site, copy and paste the following code. <script type="text/javascript"> var file="destruction_slideshow.swf"; var width = 525; var height = 372; </script><script type="text/javascript" src=" Too wide? Click on images below to launch related videos. Building Codes “The poverty in Haiti lends itself to people building where they want, how they can … not everybody’s going to be able to build to the exacting standards that a building code requires.”
Unlike in other countries located on or near fault lines, very few of Haiti’s buildings were constructed for earthquake resistance. Construction Materials “Better buildings would have saved lives.” Fault Lines. Earthquakes for Kids. National severe weather. Step into the wild world of weather!
What is a wall cloud? What's the difference between a watch and a warning? Is it ever “too cold to snow”? Learn all about thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, lightning, floods, damaging winds and severe winter weather. Thunderstorms There can be as many as 40,000 thunderstorms each day around the world. Learn more → Tornadoes Much about tornadoes remains a mystery. Learn more → Floods Except for heat-related fatalities, more deaths occur from flooding than any other weather-related hazard. Learn more → Lightning Lightning is one of the oldest observed natural phenomena on earth. Learn more → Hail Hail can cause billions of dollars of damage to structures, crops and livestock.
Learn more → Damaging Winds Straight-line winds are responsible for most thunderstorm damage.