NATURAL DISASTERS WORKSHEET



NATURAL DISASTERS

1. What is a natural disaster? Disaster not manmade that effects environment, people and/or economics.

2. What is considered the deadliest natural disaster in recorded history? What was the estimated death toll and what was considered the leading cause of the deaths? Yellow river flood in 1931, China, 4,000,000 deaths caused by famine and disease

Wildfires

Q1. Name three things that can trigger wildfires.

High temperatures, high winds, dry conditions, arsonists, lightning

Q2. What is the most common fire igniter in grasslands like west Texas?

Lightning

Q3. What is an arsonist?

Someone who deliberately starts fires

Q4. What were the weather conditions like before the forest fires in Yellowstone National Park in 1988?

Dry, drought

Q5. Are forest fires considered a natural cycle or something that needs to be suppressed?

Natural cycle

Hurricanes and Cyclones

Q1. What is the difference between a cyclone and a hurricane?

Location (example: Australia they name storms Cyclone Tracey etc.)

Q2. Where do hurricanes develop?

Over warm tropical waters

Q3. What determines the category number of a hurricane?

Wind Speed

Q4. What hurricane was the deadliest in US history? What was the death toll?

Galveston hurricane in 1900. 8000 deaths

Drought

Q1. How long can droughts last for in extreme cases?

Years (longest, 400 years)

Q2. What is the most famous US drought? Is it possible to have another drought like it?

Dust bowl

Q3. What are considered the two most intense droughts in Texas history? 

1950’s and 2008-2009

Earthquakes

Q1. What causes earthquakes?

Tectonic plates moving against each other

Q2. What are the four main layers of the earth?

Crust, Mantle, outer core, inner core

Q3. Will the California coast sink into the ocean? Explain what will eventually happen to California.

No, Most of the coastline is moving to the northwest at about 2 inches per year.

Q4. What does the Richter Scale measure?

Shock Waves

Famine

Q1. Name at least 3 causes of Famine. 

Politics, natural disasters, poor farming techniques etc.

Q2. Name 2 first world countries and 2 third world countries. 

USA, Germany, Canada, ect. Somalia, Columbia, Ethiopia etc,

Q3. In 1991 what was the cause of all the deaths in Southern Sudan (Africa)? 

Civil war, food withheld from people causing starvation

Q4. What are the symptoms of starvation?

Bloated stomachs, fatigue, stomach cramps, anemia, death, etc.

Floods

Q1. What do rising waters do to surrounding land?

Drown plants 

Q2. How many stages are floods regarded as? 

3-4

Q3. What river has flooded and killed more people than any other river in the world? Where is it located?

Yellow river, China

Tornadoes

Q1. Where in the world do tornadoes occur? 

Most in Midwestern United States

Q2. How do Tornadoes form?

Body of hot air meets a body of cold air

Q3. In what season do tornadoes occur? 

Spring

Q4. What was the most deadly tornado in Texas history?

Waco, killed 114

Tsunamis

Q1. Why is the name tidal wave inappropriate for a tsunami?

Tides caused by moon, tsunamis caused by natural disasters

Q2. What are the three major causes of tsunamis?

Earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides

Q3. Where do most tsunamis occur?

Pacific ocean

Q4. Where does a tsunami warning system now operate?

Along west coast of united states

THE JAPANESE TSUNAMI

Q5. About how high did the Japanese tsunami get?

23-80ft

Q6. How far away is Tokyo from the source of the earthquake?

230 miles

Q7. How does the Japanese tsunami compare to the Indonesian tsunami in 2004?

Indonesian tsunami killed 230,000 people, Japan 15,000. Japan had nuclear power plant problems.

Volcanoes

Q1. What is the name given to plates diving beneath one another?

Subduction

Q2. Where do volcanoes occur?

Along tectonic plates (Fault lines)

Q3. What formed the Hawaiian Island chain?

Hot spot

Q4. Why might the volcanoes in Japan start to become active again?

When plates move, volcanoes can act up

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