Get through website - your GO TO SITE!

Follow the link to the GO TO SITE for this research assignment...

http://www.getthru.govt.nz/web/GetThru.nsf/web/APRE-88FTTJ?opendocument

http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/people_and_communities/Households/natural-disaster-how-prepared-nzers.aspx

Follow the link above for information on stats...

How prepared are New Zealanders for a natural disaster?

Article about Alpine fault & possible quake !

Fault 'well-behaved' but big quake closer

NZ Newswire June 28, 2012, 3:10 pm

Scientists studying the faultline that runs along the Southern Alps have gone back thousands of years further than previous studies and discovered it is "well behaved" and something of a creature of habit.

But they warn the new information leads them to believe there is a 30 per cent chance of a destructive magnitude 8 earthquake within the next 50 years.

Scientists had previously only known the ages for four large Alpine Fault quakes dating back to about 1000AD.

In Science magazine this week, GNS Science, with help from Victoria University of Wellington, as well as scientists from Italy, Israel, and the US, revealed the fruits of their four-year research project.

Focussed on a remote river terrace near Milford Sound, they used radiocarbon dating of seeds, leaves, and reeds contained in swampy sediments, to determine the ages of 24 surface ruptures, of about magnitude 8, dating back to 6000BC.

The findings dramatically improve the known earthquake history of the 600km-long fault which runs up the spine of the South Island.

The mean interval between large earthquakes on the fault is 330 years and two thirds of the intervals were between 260 and 400 years. The fault last ruptured in 1717.

"On a national scale, we can now base our modelling on knowledge of the timing of 24 earthquakes compared to the four that were known prior to this investigation," said project co-leader Kelvin Berryman, of GNS Science.

"This will greatly improve the reliability of earthquake hazard modelling."

University of Otago geologist Richard Norris said a magnitude 8 quake could cause widespread damage in Westland, landslides and damage in places like Queenstown, Te Anau, Wanaka and Mt Cook.

In Christchurch and Dunedin the intensities will be lower but could damage poorly constructed buildings and possibly cause some liquefaction.

Places such as Nelson, Wellington and Invercargill could also expect to feel some shaking.

Progress Report #2 ! Week 10 Term #2

Time for another progress report! Before the end of the period - please post a comment to this blog detailing what progress you have made this week with your research project. 

I would like to know HOW you got on with contacting your expert and what information you go...

I would like to know WHERE you are at with creating your online survey form in Google Docs. You should be distributing this link asap so you can gather information!!

I would also like to know WHAT type of ICT presentation you will be creating to give us your research information first week back term #3.

There is lots to be done! Don't waste your research time in class! Use your time wisely! Work out different tasks to be done by different members of your group! Share the load!! Get to it!! 

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Make sure you sign in to the blog before posting your comment, or post as anon and reference your name at the bottom of your comment post ;)

Natural Disasters - Research topic - LIST OF TASKS

TASK #1
Generate a range of questions about the impact of your selected natural disaster that you will try to answer through the research process (the second column of the KWL charts will be useful in this process).

Remember to use the success criteria to ensure that you are gathering appropriate information.

Possible questions could include:
Where does this type of disaster occur?
How frequently do they happen?
What causes them to happen?
How severe can they be?
What impact do they have on people, animals and the natural environment?
How do people protect themselves and their environment against natural disasters? How well do people’s emergency management strategies assist them?
What agencies exist to help prepare for natural disasters?

TASK #2
As a class - identify and source a range of resources that could be used to answer the research questions.

Resources could include:
 Local Government
 Internet sites
 Library books
TV documentaries
News articles, etc.

You may also consider inviting an expert to school (eg: a council worker who deals with emergency management, a seismologist, a meteorologist, a civil defence officer, etc) to share their knowledge about natural disasters and to answer questions.
You may also choose to interview experts via the telephone or e-mail.


Collecting, organising and analysing information, Identifying, recruiting and managing resources
TASK #3
Carry out research on your chosen natural disaster including what rules, laws, and other emergency support is provided by local government.


Collecting, organising and analysing information,  Communicating and receiving ideas and information, Planning and Organising
TASK #4

Organise your collected information into different categories (eg: scientific facts, examples of natural disasters, survival strategies, etc) and start thinking about how you are going to create a presentation using ICT tools or other relevant media, to share your knowledge. You could make a powerpoint presentation, instructional video, keynote presentation... etc

Communicating ideas & receiving information
TASK 5#
Interview an expert who works in the field of emergency management to find out what systems and resources should be in place at school and home to prepare for the natural disasters that could occur.

You should be able to recognise and investigate different aspects of disaster preparedness such as transport, medicine, shelter, food, communications, etc


Planning & Organising
TASK 6#
 Develop a questionnaire to give to your families and school leader/s to ascertain how prepared they are for the natural disasters that threaten their environment.

 The questions in the questionnaire need to be based on the information gained during your interview with an expert in emergency management and should cover the different aspects of disaster preparedness (these questions could be developed in collaboration with the expert)

Collecting, organising & analysing information...
TASK #7
    Distribute the questionnaires to your families and the school management team

Analyse the results of the questionnaires to identify the actions that you’ve already been taken in school and at home to prepare for a natural disaster and the actions that still need to be taken.


Generating, identifying  & assessing opportunities
TASK 8:
Use the findings from the questionnaire to list a range of projects that you could carry out to improve people’s awareness of emergency management and to ensure that your school and/or homes are better equipped to deal with a natural disaster.

Your projects could include: create and edit an educational video about how to prepare for a natural disaster, Creating a school map that highlights evacuation meeting points and displaying these in all classrooms; creating a pamphlet describing what should be in family survival kits, improving your school’s survival kit and emergency contact systems, etc. You could also make up an example of a “good” survival kit - to show what is needed as a basis to be prepared for a natural disaster.

Each group is to take on a different project - so that a range of resources are developed for the community.

Generating, identifying and assessing opportunities.
TASK #9
Use a Decision Making Grid to select a project that you will carry out in your groups.
Possible criteria for the Decision Making Grid could include:
project can be completed in a reasonable length of time, resources to carry out the project can be easily obtained, students have the appropriate skills to complete the project, project will be beneficial to our community, project will be fun to carry out, etc.

Planning and Organising

TASK # 10
List the jobs that need to be carried out to complete the selected project and make sure that each of you are assigned roles/responsibilities that suit your strengths or learning goals.

Planning & organising, working with others, communicating and receiving ideas and information

As a class... complete a timeline setting a completion date for your project and plotting the tasks that need to be completed.

Work cooperatively to carry out your project...

Celebrate your achievements by sharing your learning and actions with the rest of your class.

Communicating and receiving ideas and information

Students share their presentations with the class and use the success criteria to measure their achievements.


LOTS TO BE DONE... SO GET TO IT! DUE DATE IS FIRST WEEK BACK TERM #3

Earthquake expert - Virginia Toy, Dept of Geology

For those focussing on Earthquakes here are the details for an earthquake expert - who you can contact as part of your research...

Dr Virginia G. Toy
BSc MSc(Auckland) MPhil(ANU) PhD (Otago)

• structure of shear zones
• microstructure and texture analysis
• coseismic fault rocks
• SW Pacific tectonics

Email virginia.toy@otago.ac.nz

Phone: +64 3 479 7506

She would prefer that you email her (rather than phoning)  - as she is a very busy person and will read and answer your questions when she has time.

Be sure to include in your email:

• WHO you are and WHERE you are from (e.g.A year 10 Social Studies student from John McGlashan College!)
• WHAT you are doing as part of your research... explain your task.
• A LIST of interesting and well thought-out questions for her to answer about earthquakes and the risk for Dunedin
• Be sure to THANK her at the end for her time and keep the email style and format formal! 

Cheers
   Ms Fridd. 

Friday 22nd June 2012 - Progress report!!!!

Before the END of the period today, you and your group/partner have to supply a PROGRESS REPORT in the form as a comment to this blog post.

You need to detail the following things....

• Names of people in your group
• WHAT Natural Disaster you have chosen and for WHICH area (city / region?)
• NAME of the expert you have chosen to contact for information for your research project and how you are going to contact him. Also detail the types of questions you are going to ask him...
•  A couple of sentences detailing WHAT research you have undertaken so far and how much data you have accumulated and WHERE you intend to find more data. 
• REMEMBER - you need to use books / internet /  talk to school leaders / interview an expert / and produce a survey in GoogleDOCS to survey family/friends/school pupils/community (go into documents and then Create and select Form to create a survey form - we tried this during Thursday's class! ) to find the relevant information you need....

Post a comment to the end of this post to fulfill this task!! Go to it people!! 


Cheers,
  Ms Fridd.

Expert for the Natural Disaster unit....

As part of your Natural Disaster unit you need to find an expert to interview for research purposes. You need to come up with a range of questions beforehand to ask your expert.

Here is the name and contact details of one useful expert who works at the Dunedin City Council and deals with Civil Defence in Dunedin...

Glenn Mitchell

DCC Civil Defence 

Email -  gdmitche@dcc.govt.nz

Phone - (direct dial)  (03) 474 3111 

I have already contacted Glenn and he is more than happy to field your questions. Come up with a good list of them to ask him and be sure to include the following things in your email....

• Address him as -  Mr Mitchell  
• Say WHO you are and WHERE you come from e.g. John McGlashan College!
• Say WHAT you are doing... Year 10 Social Studies Natural Disasters research assignment...
• ASK him insightful questions... probing questions... not just YES/NO questions/answers, but questions that require paragraph answers and detail. 
• Be sure to THANK HIM for his time and effort! And give him details on how to get back in touch with you - eg.. Sign off with your name and email address ;) 

Cheers, Ms Fridd :) 

Check this out! Interesting video link from the CBC

 From the CBC website "STROMBO video of the day":

VIDEO OF THE DAY: We're All Related. Literally.

June 15, 2012

We don't want to blow your mind or anything, but according to this video by YouTube user VSauce, every single person on Earth is related.

The video (which is based on some recent research from MIT and other online sources), explains that everyone on the planet is "at the least, 50th cousins with everybody else on Earth". Scientists have determined that in the past, humans (unknowingly) bred with distant family members pretty regularly, meaning that we are all very, very distantly related to one another.

From there, the video gets into some other interesting ways we're connected: every atom in our body is exchanged regularly. And that means, according to VSauce, that we all contain some atoms in our bodies that were once part of other people. Check out the mind-bending vid below: 

Wellington earthquake may kill hundreds and cost $20 Billion

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Wellington quake may kill hundreds and cost $20billion

A daytime 7.6-magnitude earthquake striking Wellington could kill hundreds, destroy 600 buildings, leave nearly 30,000 people stranded, and cost nearly $20 billion to clean up, according to new computer modelling.
Wellington sits on an active fault and the new software, RiskScape, developed by GNS Science and NIWA, has calculated the devastating worst-case scenario, Fairfax reports.
GNS social scientist Kim Wright said RiskScape was not just about worst-case scenarios, but about understanding all kinds of risks and how to reduce their impact.
RiskScape modelling was not yet fully fine-tuned - especially with casualty forecasts, she said.
The software will soon provide accurate projections for other disasters such as landslides, wind storms and tsunamis, to help emergency response agencies prepare for the real thing.
Estimates have put the cost of rebuilding Christchurch following last year's magnitude-6.3 quake, which killed 185 people, as high as $30b.

Tornadoes & Technology (Formative task)

To see what you have learned about Tornadoes and technology complete the following task:

Answer the four questions using detailed paragraph answers. (Who knows you could get a question like this in the exam!)

• Why is it so important to be able to accurately predict tornadoes?

• What are some of the problems researchers face when trying to predict tornadoes? Why is it so difficult?

• What are some of the technologies that have been used to track storms and predict tornadoes? Which ones were unsuccessful, and why? Which technologies do scientists think are going to prove most useful in the future?

• What have researchers learned about tornadoes so far, and what do they hope to learn in the future? How will technology help?