Haiti earthquake

Here are some websites to help you in your research on the Haiti earthquake today.

BBC news article Haiti

Oxfam - secondary impacts of the earthquake

Haiti the facts

What factors affect the effects?

Choose two factors that we have looked at today (there is a list below to remind you) which may affect the effects that earthquake have.

Explain each of these three factors using an example to back up your explanation.

1. How wealthy/ poor the country is.
2. The time of day/ time of year.
3. Distance from the epicentre.
4. Population density.
5. Types of buildings.
6. Duration of earthquake.

You need to PEE to write a perfect explanation

Point - make your initial point
Expand - Expand your point further
Example - Give an example to back up your point

Model answer

The duration of an earthquake can affect the impacts that an earthquake can have. (P) The longer that an earthquake causes the ground to move for, the more potential damage that can occur as more buildings may collapse causing a higher death toll. (E). The duration of the Haiti earthquake for example was 40 seconds causing 250,000 deaths in comparison to the Kobe earthquake which was just 20 seconds causing 5,500 deaths.

Tectonic Detectives

Become an earthquake monitor and check out real time global earthquake activity throughout the week.

Go to Real time Earthquake Map - USGS
Check this map on a daily basis to see the earthquakes that are happening around the globe. Think about questions such as:

• How many are there over 7 on the Richter Scale?
• How many per day seem to occur?
• Is there a pattern as to where the majority of earthquake activity is?
• Who are the USGS and what do they do?

Challenge: Which types of plate boundary are getting the most earthquake action?

OS mapping symbols for Year 9 tourism assessment

Year 9

In order to help you complete you Paradise Island maps, here is a link to the OS map symbols that you will need. Just click on the link!

Map Symbols Key

Geography jokes

Got any good geography jokes? Here are a few very random ones I found...

• I asked a windmill how he felt about more renewable energy, he said he was a big fan.


• What does a fish say when it hits a wall? Dam.


• Where are the Andes? On the end of your armies?

Think you can do better ? I hope so. I will give 2 merits to everyone who can make me laugh with a geography joke!

First ever successful prediction of an underwater volcano!

New Canary island rises from the deep

It may be just a matter of time before a new Canary Island emerges from the sea off the coast of El Hierro.

An underwater volcano has bubbled toward the surface off the coast the southernmost island of the Canaries for over a month now, staining the sea green and spewing magma up to 65 feet in the air.

Until recently, the explosive power of the volcano was barely visible from the surface. Now, stones and debris have been seen shooting out of the volcano as it rises toward open air.

The underwater volcano is just over 225 feet from the surface according to Spain's National Geographic Institute (IGN), and many in the Canary Islands are brainstorming names for the new island. Proposed names include "The Discovery," "Atlantis," and "The Beast."

Yet, even if the volcano does surface (as predicted), a new name may not be necessary. Just three miles off the southern coastline of El Hierro, the potential island could easily join up with the existing island over time.

Either way, the anticipation of a rising land mass has people excited. The Canary Islands newspaper La Provincia proclaimed, "The Monster Rises Out of the Water." Meanwhile other Spanish newspapers debate who would take responsibility for the new territory.

Last week, hundreds of residents of El Hierro were once again forced to leave there homes as sulfurous fumes drifted over the land. There have also been 10,000 minor and increasingly shallow earthquakes in the region lately.