Series:

Witness to Disaster

3 total works

Cover of Witness to Disaster: Tsunamis
It's another beautiful day of your paradise vacation in South Asia. You look out onto a calm sea on this day after Christmas, already looking forward to ringing in 2005. But why is the ocean receding so far from shore? Are those fish flapping around in the sand? Something is not right. Your island getaway is about to be devastated with the 80-foot-plus waves of one of the worst tsunamis in history.

The 2004 Asian Tsunami was the result of the second largest earthquake ever recorded. Lasting over eight minutes, it was also the longest on record. The quake measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, large enough to vibrate the entire planet, violent enough to move an ocean. Through eyewitness accounts and dramatic photography, the first chapter of Tsunamis puts you in the terrifying path of the wave that washed ashore in many countries. The tsunami wiped out whole communities and claimed an estimated 230,000 lives. Tsunamis explores the science, history, and personal experience of tsunamis and shows kids what scientists are doing to develop early warning systems so we can survive such disasters in the future.

National Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources.
Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.

Cover of Witness to Disaster: Earthquakes
It's another normal day in Alaska, where the beauty of the rugged landscape makes the hardships of winter worth enduring. This Northern life is good, you think, when suddenly--withoutwarning--your world is ROCKED! The ground sways beneath your feet with sickening force. You've just been caught in the second strongest earthquake inhistory!
"Witness to Disaster: Earthquakes" uses eyewitness accounts and pulse-racing narrative to bring readers into the terrifying heart of an earthquake. The firstchapter documents the 1964 Alaskan quake that shook Prince William Sound with a 9.2 magnitude force, and set off a tsunami that ultimately caused most of the deaths attributed to this frightening act of nature. Thefollowing chapters explore the deadly history of earthquakes and the seismic and geological science of this phenomenon. Readers learn how and why earthquakes occur, and what scientists can do to prevent casualties. Theexpansive back matter includes a list of sources to discover more about these fearsome catastrophes.

Cover of Witness to Disaster
This book includes true-life accounts from a wide variety of people, including scientists, sightseers, and thrill-seekers, add to the compelling readability of this book that gives readers both a historical perspective on the human experience of Tsunamis and a scientific perspective on why they occur and what scientists are doing to help people stay out of the way.