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Unit Seven: Disasters We Live With
Lesson 1 A furious force
Objectives: By the end of the lesson you will have
• read an extract on cyclones
• gone through a table about a cyclone damage report
• written a letter describing a devastation
A What is a cyclone? Talk about cyclones with your partner and share your experience if any.
B Make at least 5 sentences describing what a c\ clone-hit area looks like.
e.g. Roofs of houses are blown away. Trees/people/cattle/crop?.... ......... ..............
C The following extract about the cyclone of 1991 was presented at a college workshop. Read the text and answer the questions that follow.
Much of the destruction caused by the cyclone of April 1991 was due to the wind I velocity and the tidal surge which began to swell about the time the cyclone hit the coastal areas of the country. Twenty-five feet at some points, it swamped the off shore islands, submerging them and then bursting across the shoreline, raced inland. The impact of such an event was especially catastrophic because there was a dense rural population living in extreme poverty and with little protection in these areas. It is estimated that nearly 1.40,000 people lost their lives during this cyclone. As many as 1 million people in 16 districts of the country were affected in varying degrees while nearly 1,38,849 people were reported to have been injured.
1 What do these pronouns refer to? (You have to read back a little to understand
the connection of the pronouns to the nouns used earlier in the text):
a 'it' (line 3)
b 'them' (line 4)
c 'such' (line 5)
d 'their' (line 6)
2 Look at the use of 'it' in line 7. Is the word used as a pronoun here too?
3 The cyclone alone caused destruction and death. Do you agree?
4 The text says people had little protection. Can you suggest ways of providing protection during a cyclone? Discuss this with your partner and write down at least two solutions.
D Study the Cyclone Damage Report from 1991 (Source: Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation). Then write in complete sentences the estimated damage caused by the cyclone in terms of (a) affected human lives, (b) loss of animals, (c) damage to infrastructure.
Indicators by
Numbers
1 Total affected districts,
16.
2 Total affected upazillas,
18.
3 Total affected municipalities,
- 06.
4 Total human deaths,
1.40,000.
5 Total population injured,
1,38,849.
6 Total affected population,
12 million.
7 Total population missing,
2.295.
8 Total acreage" of crops damaged.
9,09,374,
9 Total food grain loss,
3,50,000 mt.
10 Total educational institutions damaged,
9,287.
11 Total houses damaged,
17,50,000.
12 Total acreage of plantation damaged,
60,000.
13 Total cattle head loss,
2,24,000.
14 Total goat and sheep loss,
2,18,000.
15 Total poultry loss,
2.4 million.
16 Total physical infrastructure damaged :
Embankments,
435.9 kms.
Drainage channels,
972.6 kms.
Rural roads,
2,350 kms.
Bridges and culverts,
6,000 ft.
17 Total number of tubewells damaged/out of order,
84,362.
E Write a letter to a pen-friend in England describing briefly from your experience (or imagination or hearsay) the devastation caused by either a cyclone, a flood or a storm.
Focus:
Skills.
Intensive
reading,
speaking,
writing an
informal
letter. Functions.
Describing weather conditions, describing after-effects, making suggestions.
Grammar/Structure.
Simple past, passive voice, modal verbs -could, should, pronouns, introductory 'if.
Vocabulary.
velocity, surge, swamped, submerge, impact, catastrophic, estimated, hearsay, culvert.
This text will be replaced
Unit Seven: Disasters We Live With
Lesson 1 A furious force
Objectives: By the end of the lesson you will have
• read an extract on cyclones
• gone through a table about a cyclone damage report
• written a letter describing a devastation
A What is a cyclone? Talk about cyclones with your partner and share your experience if any.
B Make at least 5 sentences describing what a c\ clone-hit area looks like.
e.g. Roofs of houses are blown away. Trees/people/cattle/crop?.... ......... ..............
C The following extract about the cyclone of 1991 was presented at a college workshop. Read the text and answer the questions that follow.
Much of the destruction caused by the cyclone of April 1991 was due to the wind I velocity and the tidal surge which began to swell about the time the cyclone hit the coastal areas of the country. Twenty-five feet at some points, it swamped the off shore islands, submerging them and then bursting across the shoreline, raced inland. The impact of such an event was especially catastrophic because there was a dense rural population living in extreme poverty and with little protection in these areas. It is estimated that nearly 1.40,000 people lost their lives during this cyclone. As many as 1 million people in 16 districts of the country were affected in varying degrees while nearly 1,38,849 people were reported to have been injured.
1 What do these pronouns refer to? (You have to read back a little to understand
the connection of the pronouns to the nouns used earlier in the text):
a 'it' (line 3)
b 'them' (line 4)
c 'such' (line 5)
d 'their' (line 6)
2 Look at the use of 'it' in line 7. Is the word used as a pronoun here too?
3 The cyclone alone caused destruction and death. Do you agree?
4 The text says people had little protection. Can you suggest ways of providing protection during a cyclone? Discuss this with your partner and write down at least two solutions.
D Study the Cyclone Damage Report from 1991 (Source: Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation). Then write in complete sentences the estimated damage caused by the cyclone in terms of (a) affected human lives, (b) loss of animals, (c) damage to infrastructure.
Indicators by
Numbers
1 Total affected districts,
16.
2 Total affected upazillas,
18.
3 Total affected municipalities,
- 06.
4 Total human deaths,
1.40,000.
5 Total population injured,
1,38,849.
6 Total affected population,
12 million.
7 Total population missing,
2.295.
8 Total acreage" of crops damaged.
9,09,374,
9 Total food grain loss,
3,50,000 mt.
10 Total educational institutions damaged,
9,287.
11 Total houses damaged,
17,50,000.
12 Total acreage of plantation damaged,
60,000.
13 Total cattle head loss,
2,24,000.
14 Total goat and sheep loss,
2,18,000.
15 Total poultry loss,
2.4 million.
16 Total physical infrastructure damaged :
Embankments,
435.9 kms.
Drainage channels,
972.6 kms.
Rural roads,
2,350 kms.
Bridges and culverts,
6,000 ft.
17 Total number of tubewells damaged/out of order,
84,362.
E Write a letter to a pen-friend in England describing briefly from your experience (or imagination or hearsay) the devastation caused by either a cyclone, a flood or a storm.
Focus:
Skills.
Intensive
reading,
speaking,
writing an
informal
letter. Functions.
Describing weather conditions, describing after-effects, making suggestions.
Grammar/Structure.
Simple past, passive voice, modal verbs -could, should, pronouns, introductory 'if.
Vocabulary.
velocity, surge, swamped, submerge, impact, catastrophic, estimated, hearsay, culvert.