JBB's DRP for 2/16/23: In the News: Earthquake in Turkey & Syria Leaves Millions Homeless

Over 28,000 are believed to have died from last week’s earthquake and after-shocks in Turkey and Syria. Authorities are beginning to take down dangerous buildings and try to figure out what to do with the millions left homeless. Have you or your family ever faced a natural disaster? Growing up in California, I’ve experienced numerous earthquakes where my family was okay but there was huge loss of life. Many places in the world face natural disasters like earthquakes or hurricanes or snow storms. What would you do if you lived in an area prone to natural disasters?

It’s been over a week since the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria. When I started thinking about how to have my students reflect on the event, as part of our “in the news” segment, it made me wonder, how does one relate to disasters on the other side of the world? Way back in October these prompts were mostly about how are you adjusting to middle school and your schedule. But then I decided to pull in news clips from PBS and other cultural events. I quickly realized that I needed to balance between what’s happening with you, what’s happening in the world and just lighter things to ponder, or they’d get overwhelmed. Many of us over the pandemic learned that we could only take so much “news” before it felt like too much. So, how do you stay informed without getting overwhelmed?

I really don’t know, but with this prompt I decided to bring it back home and ask about their personal experiences with things like earthquakes or storms. It’s a lot for most adults to contemplate, I don’t know if any of my students really has the means to think about things like living in natural disaster prone areas. I know I never really thought about it when I lived in California, except that I always bolted my bookshelves to the walls…

I know I’ve gotten pretty lax as far as having a go-bag or even bottled water. Ugh. Do you ever think about the collection of natural disasters that might visit your part of the world and have some plan to deal with it (assuming you survive…)?