Natural Disasters

Volcanoes

10000

What is the name given to the volcanoes located in the Pacific Ocean?

The Pacific Ring of Fire

30000

Name 3 dormant (non-active) volcanoes that are on the Australian mainland.

Check you answer with your teacher

500000

What material or substance forms the grey cloud that rises out the top of a volcano?

Volcanic ash

700000

What is the opening of a volcano called?

A vent

900000

Give a definition (in your team's own words) of a natural disaster.

A natural event that causes significant loss of life or damage.

Earthquakes

10000

List three negative effects that earthquakes can have on humans

Loss of life, homes destroyed, high damage bills

30000

Explain the difference between an earthquake this is considered a natural disaster and one that is not.

Answer about damage, loss of life

500000

Give a definition (in your own words) of the word "epicentre"

The place on the surface of the earth where the earthquake occurs

700000

What was the name of the Indonesian city that had a major earthquake hit in 2009?

Padang, Indonesia

900000

How are earthquakes and tsunamis related?

A tsunami is caused by an earthquake on the ocean floor that creates damaging waves onshore

Natural disasters

10000

Name three things that you would see change in a street after an earthquake

Broken ground, fallen trees, damaged houses

30000

What year was Australia's Newcastle earthquake and approximately what was the magnitude?

1989 - magnitude 5.6

500000

Explain why it would be important to drink bottled water rather than tap water after a natural disaster.

Tap water is likely to be dirty (if available at all)

700000

Name three items that you could have in a disaster management kit

First aid kit, water, torch

900000

Explain why a fire extinguisher could be an ideal item to have in a disaster management kit

In case fires are started - especially electrical fires

Cyclone

10000

Your mate says that there is a cyclone 100km off the coast and he has a feeling that it will hit in 6 hours time. Do you think your mate's prediction would be correct just "because he thinks so"? Why or why not?

No - cyclones move at different speeds, they can slow down and change direction - only scientists can truly predict this and even they are not always correct

30000

What are some ways that scientists and meteorologists can predict when a cyclone will hit the land?

Looking at temperature (air and water), the cyclone's path so far, the direction of the wind

500000

What direction does an Australian cyclone spin in?

Clockwise

700000

Explain the difference between a cyclone, hurricane and typhoon.

They are all similar events, that different countries have different names for. The direction that it spins can be a difference.

900000

What is the centre of the cyclone called?

The "eye" of the cyclone

Rainfall and drought

10000

What are the three categories of drought that we have looked at?

Below average, serious and severe

30000

For a drought to be severe, how much of the monthly average rainfall must fall?

Less that 10% of the average monthly rainfall

500000

List three things that you could see change about the land during a drought.

Dry land, dying crops, empty lakes and dams

700000

List three ways that the public in Australia would be warned about droughts or floods.

TV news, newspapers, SMS alerts, door-knocking

900000

List three damaging effects that a flood can have on land and humans.

Flooded and damaged house, erosion on riverbanks, drowning people