11 Natural Disasters

IN THIS LESSON, YOU WILL LEARN ABOUT:

• Types of natural disasters
• Earthquake and its causes
• Methods of measuring earthquake
• Types of volcanoes
• Other types of natural disasters-Cyclones, Tsunami, Floods and Drought

Tick ( ) the natural disasters from below given pictures.

Sea Breeze Drought Accident Electrical Fire

Natural disasters are the events caused by the forces of nature that often affect
the human life and environment. They can happen at any time or place without a
warning. Movements within the earth are responsible for causing them.
Earthquake, flood, tsunami, volcano and drought are some examples of natural
disasters. In this chapter, we will discuss about them in detail.

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 Earthquake
An earthquake is the visible shaking of the
surface of the Earth.
Earthquakes occur due to the release of built up
pressure inside the Earth’s crust. Earth’s crust is
made up of several rocky plates. These plates are Earthquake
constantly moving. Sometimes during their movement these plates get stuck on each
other and creates pressure between the plates. The
Earthquake occurs when this pressure is released,
resulting in sudden release of energy. Moving rocks and
the molten material within volcanoes, which is also
Volcanic quakes called as magma can also induce earthquakes. Such
quakes are called as volcanic quakes.
Sometimes earthquakes are induced by subsurface explosions done in nuclear tests,
mining activities or dam and tunnel constructions.
Earthquakes are detected using seismometers.
The Earthquakes having more than 5 magnitudes are measured on moment
magnitude scale and the earthquakes of less than 5 magnitudes are measured on
Richter scale.

Volcano
Earth's crust has several vents (holes) or cracks.
Through these cracks lava(molten rock) will be
erupted to the earth’s surface. When lava is erupted on
Earth's surface we called it as a Volcano. Because of
accumulation of these eruptions a mountain is formed.

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 Cyclones
It is an extremely large, strong and powerful storm
that rotates around an area of low pressure.
All large-scale cyclones are centred on low-pressure
areas like coastal areas, because in the coastal area
there is a great difference between temperature and
pressure conditions on land and the sea. Because of Cyclone
cyclones, the level of sea near the coastal area rises suddenly and blows to the land
destroying buildings and the crops. Cyclones often cause damage to property and life.
Tsunami
Natural calamities not only happen on land
but also happen beneath the sea. Underwater
earthquakes, landslides or a volcanic
eruptions which cause a series of ocean
waves of ver y
large magnitude Tsunami
is called as Tsunami. It often happens in Pacific Ocean.
Tsunami can cause severe damage to properties and lives.
AMAZING FACT!
One of the examples is on 26th December 2004, an
Tsunami is a Japanese
word. Tsu means harbour earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale hit the coast
and nami means wave. of Indonesia. It caused major destructions. Around 11
countries were affected which included countries like
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. In this tsunami around 1,50,000 people lost
their life and over 5 million people became homeless.
Floods
An overflow of a large amount of water beyond its normal limits is called Flood.
Heavy rains cause rivers to overflow, as a result areas surrounding the rivers get

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submerged. Deforestation has increased the problem of
flood during heavy rains. Heavy rains cause soil erosion in
the mountains & floods in the plains. The problems caused
due to floods are –
1. Damage to property & life.
Flood
2. Damage to life in the form of drowning, fever and various types of infections.
3. Crops are destroyed.
4. People have to face conditions like starvation.
5. People lose their work and they are forced to migrate from their places in the
search of food & shelter.

Drought
Drought is a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall,
leading to shortage of water. It is exactly opposite situation
of flood.
This mainly affects the farmers who are dependent on rains
for the farming. There are many factors that are
responsible for drought conditions like hot dry winds, very Drought
high temperature & evaporation of moisture from the ground. Shortage of crops leads
to famine in the affected region. The people living in drought affected areas have to
starve due to lack of food.

Natural Disaster

Earthquake Drought Tsunami Cyclone Floods Volcanoes

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Think & Answer
A. Find the missing letters.

1. __S__NAMI
T u 2. q a
E__RTH__U__KE
a

3. S__IS__
e m o__ ME__ t E __
r 4. V__LC__N__
o a o 5. FLO__D
o
B. Give two examples for the following.

1. Types of quakes ____________

Earthquakes Tsunamis
____________

2. Disasters due to water Floods

____________ Droughts
____________

3. Disasters due to air Tornados

____________ Cyclone
____________

C. Match the following.

Tsunami Inward spiralling winds

Flood Eruption of lava
Earthquake Large magnitude
ocean waves
Cyclone Shaking land
Volcano Overflow of water beyond
its limits

A. Fill in the Blanks.

1. A _____________
cyclone is a large scale air mass that rotates around a strong centre of low
atmospheric pressure.
2. On 26th December 2004, an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale hit the
Indonesia
coast of _____________.
3. Deforestation
______________ has increased the problem of flood during heavy rains.
4. The volcanoes which are inactive from long time, but there is possibility that they can
Dormant Volcano
erupt in future are called _____________.
5. Earthquake
_____________ is the visible shaking of the surface of the earth.

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B. Tick ( ) the correct option:
1. The eruption of molten rocks through the cracks in earth’s crust is called as
(a) Earthquake (b) Volcano (c) Cyclone
2. The earthquakes of less than 5 magnitudes are measured on –
(a) Seismometer (b) Moment magnitude scale
(c) Richter Scale
3. An overflow of a large amount of water beyond its normal limits is called as
(a) Tsunami (b) Flood (c) Drought
4. People face starvation because of
(a) Flood (b) Drought (c) Both a and b
5. The seismologists studies
(a) Tsunami (b) Earthquake (c) Cyclone
C. Short answer questions.
1. What are natural disasters? Give three examples. Volcanoes,floods,tsunamis
2. What is a seismograph?
3. What are the causes of induced earthquakes?
4. What is Tsunami? A Tsunami is an underwater earthquake
D. Long answer questions.
1. How are natural disasters caused?
2. Explain tsunami.
3. Write a short note on drought.

How should we prepare ourselves in case of situations like flood?

Natural disasters cause devastation in larger population. It can happen anywhere. It is important
that we must provide help to these affected people. For that, we must keep ourselves updated about
such calamities by watching news regularly. If you come to know about any such calamities, join
groups and offer whatever help you can.

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