Tsunami Articles
Online Resources providing information with the Dec. 26th Tsunami
by Sue Dean
January 12, 2005
ASIA'S DEADLY
WAVES:
Hour by hour, follow the earthquake and tsunami that hit Southeast
Asia on December 26th in this interactive exhibit from the New York
Times. Plate movements, close-ups, photos, stats, and simulations
are all available.
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/khtml/2004/12/31/international...
SPECIAL REPORT:
TSUNAMI!
Student handouts and a teacher discussion guidance worksheet form
the core of this learning activity on the Dec. 26th earthquake and
tsunami. Issues considered include geographical factors,
humanitarian concerns, economic ramifications, plate tectonics, and
the media's role in natural disasters.
http://www.askasia.org/tsunami/lp1.htm
EYEWITNESS
ACCOUNTS:
Images tell the story here, following the tragedy of this huge
natural disaster throughout South Asia and accompanied by
eyewitness accounts, television reports, and background and
analyses.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4126227.stm
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/27/more.emails/index.html
INDIAN OCEAN: TSUNAMI AND
EARTHQUAKE:
This site offers a detailed and understandable overview on the
events leading to the Dec. 26th tsunami in the Indian Ocean. It
contains an animated tsunami, as well as earthquake seismographs
for the region on Dec. 25th and Dec. 26th, with several maps and
charts to help explain this severe weather phenomenon.
http://iri.columbia.edu/~lareef/tsunami/
WAVES OF DESTRUCTION:
TSUNAMIS:
Learn the science behind tsunamis at this site, with a tsunami
attack animation and a QuickTime movie of a tsunami survivor. The
2nd URL provides a good overview on the kinds of conditions which
create tsunamis, with specific reference to South Asia.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageearth/tsunami/index.html
http://asc-india.org/menu/waves.htm
DYNAMIC EARTH:
TSUNAMIS:
Students will better understand the dynamics of tsunamis when they
complete an experiment demonstrating how earthquakes affect sea
waves. They will create "P", "S", and
"L" waves; discussion questions and extension activities
are included.
http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/dynamicearth/
TSUNAMI
UNIT:
Four student handouts form the core of these lesson plans on
understanding tsunamis. Students will have a reading worksheet,
vocabulary printout, a comprehension quiz, and a project for
creating a Scenario for Survival Plan.
http://www.parlo.com/en/teachers/lessonplans/tsunaeng_1.asp
MONSTER
WAVES:
Background student text is included with this lesson plan, where
students will be building a model fishing village and model tsunami
waves. Students will understand the devastating effects of these
waves, discussing what could be done in the future to best prepare
for tsunamis. Extension activities are available, including a
guided student exercise for writing a relevant newspaper
article.
http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/gen_act/disaster/monster.html
IT COMES IN
WAVES:
Middle and high school students will learn about the origins of
tsunamis and chart the paths of recent historic occurrences. Guided
student activities and discussion questions are included. Use the
2nd URL to link to national tsunami survival information.
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20020423tuesday.html?searchpv=learning_lessons
http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/c1187/
LESSONS IN SURVIVING A
TSUNAMI:
Students can use this extensive material from the USGS to create
their own survival brochures, understanding how tsunamis happen and
how citizens might best help themselves and their neighbors to
survive.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/c1187/
FLOODING & OTHER
DISASTERS:
This lesson plan has students using current events articles to put
together a presentation on a natural disaster (in this case, the
Indian Ocean tsunami), understanding how it happens as well as its
destructive consequences. This exercise provides an excellent
opportunity for early guided research projects, directing students
to the correct sources, helping them to both create an annotated
bibliography, and compile a visual, informative presentation with
immediate relevance.
http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Science/Earth_Science/EAR0201.html
THE PHYSICS OF
TSUNAMIS:
From 'What does tsunami' mean', to 'How do earthquakes generate
tsunamis' (and it's important to note that the huge 9.0 earthquake
itself did little damage on December 26th; instead, it was the
subsequent tsunami which devastated the region), to explanations of
how tsunamis wreak their destruction, this site can be used to
teach the physics behind tsunamis.
http://www.geophys.washington.edu/tsunami/general/physics/physics.html
TSUNAMI STUDENT
WORKSHEET:
After completing some student research on tsunamis, print out
copies of this worksheet to test student comprehension.
http://coe.nevada.edu/bgivens/webquest/TsunamisWorksheet.htm
PACIFIC TSUNAMI
MUSEUM:
Photos from the Indian Ocean tsunami are included here along with
archived tsunami photos and information from major world events in
1960, 1975, and 1998.
TSUNAMI
RESEARCH:
Use this extensive collection of government research data to find
the latest information on the Indonesian tsunami. Included are
assessment reports, QuickTime animations, modeling, forecasting,
and more.
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tsunami/home.html
EARTH
WATCH:
Keeping an eye on global disasters will help students understand
how natural disasters affect people around the world, while
increasing their geographic knowledge as well.
http://www.disasterrelief.org/EarthWatch/