Naturally Disastrous
San Francisco City Hall after the 1906 earthquake.Copyright U.S. Geological Survey http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/info/1906/images/damage6.jpg.
Students are introduced to natural disasters and learn the difference between natural hazards and natural disasters. They discover the many types of natural hazards—avalanche, earthquake, flood, forest fire, hurricane, landslide, thunderstorm, tornado, tsunami and volcano—as well as specific examples of natural disasters. Students also explore why understanding these natural hazards is important to engineers and everyone's survival on our planet.
Engineers learn about our planet so that humans can exist with and survive its natural hazards. Engineers must be aware of natural hazards in order to prevent or minimize their harmful effects on people and property. They create devices that detect natural hazards, build structures to withstand them, and invent devices to study them. Our homes must withstand the powerful forces of wind, snow, water, fire and moving earth. Engineers design avalanche beacons and airbags, lightning rods and all kinds of environmental sensors. They also design special equipment to fight fires on the ground and from the air.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Differentiate between a natural disaster and a natural hazard.
- Name at least three different natural hazards.
- Explain why engineers care about natural disasters.