Haiti Earthquake

The news today has been dominated by the story of a devastating earthquake that has struck the Caribbean island of Haiti. Initial reports suggest that the magnitude 7.0 earthquake has killed over 100,000 people, with up to 3 million people affected.

A number of nations, including the US, UK and Venezuela, are gearing up to send aid. Key buildings such as hospitals, the presidential palace, peoples homes and the prison have all collapsed in the earthquake.

Already one of the poorest nations in the world, Haiti now has to face up to the aftermath of another natural disaster. Four hurricanes and storms killed hundreds of people in 2008.

Year 13 should follow this story closely over the coming days to support your work on tectonics.

Read more about this tragedy at the websites below

• BBC News
• The Guardian
• The Times
• The Independent

For those of you who use the social network Twitter. Search ‘Port-au-Prince’ to read real-time tweets about the disaster

Volcanic Activity on Montserrat

Montserrat Pyroclastic Flow

Year 9, as you know you are currently learning about tectonic activity and associated hazards.  Before Christmas and more recently we were looking at Montserrat as a case study of a volcanic eruption and you have used some excellent resources from Juicy Geography that enabled you to work effectively as a team to respond to events and make decisions around a volcanic eruption on Montserrat.

On online colleague of mine drew my attention this evening to the Montserrat Volcano Observatory website, where the hazard level for the island now stands at level 4. The Observatory are reporting increased amounts of volcanic activity recently. Why don’t you check the website over the coming weeks to see whether activity on the island increases in the future?