The Yungay Earthquake

“I was in school”, said Juan. “On the blackboard, in big white letters was the date – May 31^st,1970. The letters started to dance in front of my eyes.”

“Were you asleep?”

“No, I looked out of the window. There was a noise, like a big lorry in the street. But outside there were only a few empty cars.”

“What made the noise?”

“It was coming from the ground. The cars started to jump up and down. Then the classroom clock fell off the wall and the window broke.

I was afraid. I ran out of the school and into the street. As I was running, the houses started to fall down. The ground was moving under my feet. I knew then…”

“Knew what?”

“I knew that it was an earthquake. I ran to the fields. I could hear bangs and screams behind me. I only turned round when I got to the second field.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Nearly all buildings were on the ground. In front of me, the earth was moving up and down like a sea.”

“What did you do?”

“Nothing for a while. Then I heard another sound, like great guns. It came from mountains. I looked up and the nearest mountain began to fly at me!

I ran away and swam across the river. On the other side, I started to run again. A great wind carried me along. Then earth and snow fell on top of me…”

“Snow?”

“Yes, mountain snow. The earth broke off a large piece of the mountain.”

“How many people were died?” asked Mark

“50000 people were died and another 100000 people were hurt. Nearly a million lost their homes – that is one out of 13 people in Peru. I think it was the worst earthquake.”

Mark looked in his notebook again.

“There was an earthquake in China in 1556. It killed 830000 people. In 1923, in Japan, 142000 people died.”

III. Answer the questions:

1. When did the Yungay earthquake take place?

2. How did it begin?

3. What did Juan hear and see?

4. What happened with the boy?

5. Was the Yungay earthquake the most terrible?

6. Have you ever had an earthquake (or any other disasters) in your area? Tell about your experience.

IV. Put in the prepositions: up and down, under, across, behind, off, from, at.

A terrible noise was coming … the ground. The earth was moving … like a sea. The ground was moving … his feet. He ran and heard screams …him. When he saw that a mountain seemed to fly … him, he swam … the river. Later he realized that the earthquake broke … a large piece of the mountain.

V. Read the brief information about emergency workers. Who are they? Make a list of people, who help others, when there is a disaster.

Natural disasters, such as storms, floods, tornadoes, tropical storms and volcanic eruptions, can damage houses, destroy fields, kill animals and people.

In all these disasters, nature and people need help. Emergency workers are specially trained people who do their job during and after these types of disasters.

Emergency workers such as doctors, nurses, firemen, water and gas workers do their jobs in difficult situations. Sometimes the police and the army help, too.