A Week of Natural Disasters

This week has seen a number of major natural disasters hit East Asia. You can read about the tsunami that his Samoa on Tuesday here - this page has links to information on which countries were hit, and an animated guide to tsunamis. This article is about a surfer who survived the tsunami by staying out at sea.

On Wednesday, two major earthquakes hit Indonesia - a magnitude 7.6 followed by a 6.8. So far, the death toll stands at 1 100. You can read about the earthquake and its aftermath here - again, there are many links to other related articles and sites on this page.

Earlier in the week Typhoon Ketswana hit Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines, where many people were affected by heavy rain, strong winds and landslides. You can read about it here. Today, the Philippines is being hit by Typhoon Parma, although the capital city, Manila looks like it will escape the worst of it. The BBC report of this typhoon is here.

Away from Asia, the city of Messina on Sicily (Italy) has been badly affected by heavy rain and mudslides. Information and film of this can be found here. So far, the death toll stands at more than 50.

All of these events can be used as case studies for GCSE and A Level. Think about the causes of the disaster, the consequences (social, economic, environmental, political) and the responses (local, national, international).

Coral reef bleaching

Here is an article about the use of ocean temperature monitoring equipment to try and protect vulnerable coral reefs. This is of increasing concern as an impact of global warming and climate change.

Fancy a Starbucks?

A report out today shows that all is not going well for Starbucks! Read the full story on the BBC news website here.

This is a useful article for year 9s (studying globalisation as part of the 'Global Fashion Industry' topic and for A level (globalisation, role of multinationals and so on).

Increasing Rainforest Deforestation

Here are a few articles about the increasing rates of rainforest deforestation in Brazil.

Original story

A response

Increasing pressure

A level Geography

From September 2008 we will be following the new AQA A-level syllabus. Click on the slideshow below to see what you will be studying (some of the formatting has changed when Slideshare converted it but you should still be able to read it!).
If you have any questions about this course please speak to a member of the Geography Department.

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