A disaster is classed as a disaster, only when human society is impacted in terms of:

•       Social disruption

•       Material damage

•       Loss of life

There are many different types of natural disasters such as:

•                       Earthquake

•       Landslide/ mudslide / avalanche

•       Tsunami

•       Floods

•       Volcanic eruptions

•       Disease epidemic

•       Cyclone/ Hurricane/ Typhoon

Natural disasters can be affected by human impact in terms of:

•       Urbanisation

•       Global warming

•       Land use

•       Deforestation

•       Road cutting

•       Construction

•       Mangrove destruction

Governments and local authorities can prepare and respond to natural disasters in a number of ways:

•       Local level

•       Local forecasting systems

•       Building community supports

•       National level

•       Government policy and action

•       Forecasting systems

•       International level

•       Assist governments

•       Expertise

•       Funding

•       Resources

•       Work with all stakeholders to find solutions

I feel as though I have become more aware of the different types and severities of disasters because I feel as though it was a topic which was avoided a lot at school because teachers were ‘scared’ to ‘scare’ us, as children. I am very intrigued by disasters now, because I am aware of the mass disruption which they can cause, particularly in other countries around the world. Having learned this, I feel as though I will be much more attentive when hearing about a disaster on the news, considering it may not affect me personally. I will also be a lot quicker to help respond to these disasters by giving as much aid as I can.

When listening to powerpoints of different disasters by my peers, I was mostly intrigued by the activities which you can carry out in school as a teacher because I think disasters can be a hard topical area to teach, especially because it would be inappropriate to go into great detail in terms of deaths caused by disasters, in the classroom setting. I would therefore like to collate more ideas and build up further knowledge of how to approach this theme as a teacher because it is a very interesting theme, particularly for children.