Hello, I'm Mrs. Homagio, and I'm looking forward to teaching you today.

I hope you're going to enjoy the lesson and learn lots.

Let's get started.

Today's lesson is about "Tropical Storms and the Responses to Them." We are going to look at how people react after a tropical storm has made landfall and how they recover in order to try to be more resilient towards tropical storms. By the end of the lesson, you'll be able to understand the immediate short-term and long-term responses to tropical storms. There are four keywords for today's lesson, response, NGO, evacuation, and emergency aid.

Response is the action taken to address the impacts of a disaster.

NGO is a non-governmental organisation, for example, UNICEF, who can provide emergency aid and long-term support as a neutral body.

Evacuation is the process of moving people from a dangerous place to safety.

And emergency aid is immediate assistance and supplies provided to people affected by a disaster.

There are two parts to today's lesson.

What are immediate responses to a tropical storm? And what are long-term responses to a tropical storm? Let's get started with the first.

A tropical storm can cause devastating effects due to high winds, heavy rain, and storm surges.

And this image shows what it looks like after a tropical storm has made landfall in the Philippines.

Complete devastation to properties and people needing support.

These effects require immediate responses and long-term responses.

These responses may differ depending on a country's level of economic development and may require international support from governments and NGOs.

So the wealthier countries may be more able to look after themselves following a tropical storm, whereas the lower income countries may need support from neighbouring or nearby countries or from NGOs.

Immediate responses are the actions taken before, during, and immediately after a tropical storm.

So they may use monitoring and prediction of tropical storms in order to try to prepare regions that could experience it before it actually makes landfall.

And the responses will continue during and straight after the storm as well.

They're essential because they help to save lives, prevent further injury, and provide the basic need of food, water, and shelter.

In doing this, they can stabilise communities in those critical hours and days after a tropical storm and prevent situations from getting worse.

So what are those immediate responses? Evacuations, restoring infrastructure, broadcasting public information, search and rescue operations, and emergency supplies.

We're gonna look at each of these in a little bit more detail to help you to understand.

Firstly, evacuation.

So before the storm hits, governments and emergency services will often evacuate people from high-risk areas, such as coastal regions or flood prone zones, to protect them from storm surges and flooding.

And they use the technology available in monitoring and the prediction to help them to do this.

Temporary shelters, for example, in schools or community centres, or it may be that further away tent villages are used, they're set up to provide people with safe places to stay during and after the storm.

Quick check for you now.

True or false.

Immediate responses only happen during the tropical storm.

Pause the video, and see what you think.

Did you say false? If so, well done! But why? Why is it that that is false? Pause the video, and see what you think the answer to that is.

Hopefully, your answer looks something like this.

Immediate responses happen before, during, and immediately after the storm.

If it did, well done! Emergency responses.

So emergency aid, food rations, bottled water, and other basic necessities are delivered to people in affected areas.

Hospitals and NGOs provide first aid kits, medicines, and other supplies to treat injuries caused by the storm.

So you can see here in this image, you've got boxes of supplies that are arriving in order to help people who have been displaced, lost their homes and all their belongings.

And that help might come from within the country, it might come from neighbouring countries, or NGOs may come in and help to provide that support.

Search and rescue operations.

Emergency services like the firefighters, police, and the army will rescue people that are trapped by flood waters or fallen trees or collapsed buildings.

And boats and helicopters are used in flooded areas to reach people in isolated locations and bring them to safety.

So helicopters and boats are particularly important following a tropical storm where there's been severe flooding from storm surges and heavy rain in order to help to reach those people that are stuck in certain areas.

It may be that other search and rescue operations may happen even by foot or using other vehicles.

So it's a check for you now.

What does emergency aid after a tropical storm include? Is it a, building materials and construction tools? Is it b, food, water, and medical supplies? Or is it c, long-term housing solutions? Pause the video, and see what you think.

Did you say food, water, and medical supplies? If so, well done! Those are the things that people need in the immediate hours and days after the storm.

Emergency aid.

Restoring infrastructure.

So debris from streets and public spaces is cleared to prevent further injuries.

So buildings that have been damaged may have left material on the roads, trees that have fallen, all this is cleared out the way to avoid any further problems. Teams work quickly to reopen transport routes to allow emergency supplies to be delivered, so clearing roads is really important so that they can get the help to people that need it.

Teams work to restore phone lines and internet access allowing people to call for help and to stay informed and to make contact with missing friends or relatives in order to know what to do next.

Power companies will work quickly to restore electricity, especially, to critical services like hospitals.

Lots of these types of places will have backup generators, but it's absolutely essential that they get their electricity back up and working as quickly as possible.

Broadcasting public information.

Information is key in this situation.

And governments and emergency services will provide regular updates through radio, TV, and the internet, giving advice on safety and ongoing risks and how to access help.

And they'll be using the technology that is predicting and monitoring these storms in order to know where the storm is going and who will be affected.

Improving technology helps with this.

So mobile phones and the use of social media may well be employed in order to reach large audiences with this information.

And we've got here a digital map.

And the use of satellite imagery will help 'em to continue to track the storm and monitor conditions so they know the people in the areas that are at highest risk.

First task for you now, identify the immediate responses to a tropical storm shown in these images.

And the second question, explain how these responses help.

So pause the video, and have a go coming up with answers to these two questions.

Come back when you're ready.

So your answer to the first question, you may have put down something similar to this.

The first image, evacuation of people to safety.

Second one, emergency aid or food, water, and medical supplies.

And for the third one, search and rescue teams. And for your second answer, to explain how these responses help, you may have something similar to this.

For evacuation, this moves people away from areas of high risk.

It can take place before the storm or during and after the storm as people are rescued.

Emergency aid, food, water, and medical supplies.

This provides resources for people who are displaced by the storm and allows them to be treated for injuries.

And search and rescue teams, they can find and help rescue people trapped in buildings, this means injuries can be treated and people moved to safer areas.

You might have mentioned the use of helicopters and boats following a tropical storm because of the risk of storm surges and heavy rain leading to flood.

Well done if your answers were similar to this.

Okay, onto the second part of the lesson.

What are long-term responses to a tropical storm? So long-term responses are about helping communities to recover, become more resilient, reducing the impact of future tropical storms. And they will take place in the weeks and months after the event, so much further into the future.

What are these long-term responses? Infrastructure rebuilding, rebuilding communities, environmental restoration, and economic recovery.

So with infrastructure rebuilding, houses, roads, and buildings that were destroyed are rebuilt.

But these buildings will be adapted to prevent damage from the flooding and high winds that they experienced in the tropical storm so that they hope that they don't suffer the same damage again.

Power lines, water supplies, and sewage systems may be improved so that they too are more resilient against future storms. This will be controlled by the type of country, the money and technology available to help with this designing in order to make these buildings more resilient.

Quick check for you now.

Can you complete this sentence using the missing words below? Long-term responses are about helping communities.

And become more.

The impact of future tropical storms. So the three words you need to put into that are reducing, recover, and resilient.

Pause the video, and have a go.

Come back when you're ready.

Did you manage to get these in the right places? Long-term responses are about helping communities recover and become more resilient, reducing the impact of future tropical storms. If you got that right, well done! Another check for you now.

Which of the following is a long-term response to a tropical storm? a, providing medical aid, b, rebuilding infrastructure, or c, setting up emergency shelters.

Pause the video, and come back when you are ready.

Did you say rebuilding infrastructure? If so, well done! Providing medical aid and setting up emergency shelters are immediate responses to a tropical storm.

Rebuilding the infrastructure is a much longer term response.

Environmental restoration.

So this can be manmade with sea walls, levees, and other barriers being built or strengthened to protect coastal habitats from future damaging storm surges.

Or it can be more natural methods.

For example, mangrove forests.

So mangroves can be restored or planted, and that's because they act as a natural buffer against storm surges and they reduce flooding.

So both of these natural and manmade defences absorb the energy of the waves and reduce the risk that they pose.

Economic recovery.

Governments, often from higher income countries, and NGOs may provide financial support.

And this will enable people to rebuild their homes and businesses.

Loans and grants are often given to farmers, small businesses, and communities affected by the storm.

And this helps people to set themselves up again to earn money and to provide themselves with accommodation.

UNICEF is an NGO.

And it responds to many disasters every year, including weather-related disasters such as hurricanes.

Check for you now.

What is happening in this image? a, harvesting crops, b, rebuilding infrastructure, or c, replanting mangroves.

Pause the video, and have a go.

Did you say replanting mangroves? If so, well done! Alex says, "This activity can help to protect the coastline from damage caused by storm surges." And if you remember, that's 'cause they absorb the energy of the waves.

Rebuilding communities.

So this is often a joint effort between governments and NGOs.

They'll provide temporary shelters or housing until permanent homes are restored.

Job training programmes and temporary work opportunities are set up to help people regain their livelihoods.

So finding a way for them to earn money again.

Long-term health campaigns are set up to prevent disease outbreaks and ensure communities have access to clean water and sanitation.

So educating people on how to make sure they look after themselves and they prevent disease being a problem.

Programmes are created to ensure people have access to enough food, especially, if the storm damaged crops or fishing areas because this will have affected the supply of food, not just the store.

And finally, the health and wellbeing services, they're set up to support people affected.

The trauma of experiencing a tropical storm and the damage it can do can be quite severe, and people may well need support as they recover.

Now, onto task B.

A tropical storm has hit the Philippines.

How might the country respond, immediately and in the longer term? Try to give three examples of each.

So think carefully back through the whole of this lesson and see if you can come up with three ways they should respond immediately and three ways they could respond in the longer term.

And for number two, explain why each type of response is important.

So why are immediate response is important and why a long-term response is important? Come back when you think you've got answers to these questions.

For question one, did your answers look similar to this? Immediate responses.

Search and rescue teams to free trap people.

Emergency medical care provided.

Shelters for people with basic food and water, and notice boards to find missing family and friends.

For the longer term responses, you might have chosen infrastructure, houses and roads, for example, being rebuilt and improved.

Financial support from NGOs, for example, grants and loans for farmers, or repair and strengthening of sea walls or replanting of mangroves.

If you've got similar answers to that, that's fantastic.

Well done! And for question number two, explain why each type of response is important.

You might have written something like this.

Immediate responses to tropical storms are important for minimising the loss of life, reducing injuries, and preventing further damage to property.

Long-term responses are important because they help communities recover and become more resilient, reducing the impact of future storms. If so, well done! That shows a very good understanding of these different types of responses.

Okay, onto the summary now.

What have we learned today? People respond to the effects of tropical storms due to the damage and devastation that the strong winds, heavy rains, and storm surges can cause.

Immediate responses happen before, during, and immediately after the storm.

Emergency aid brings food, water, medical care, and shelter.

And governments and NGOs provide immediate and long-term responses.

Long-term responses help communities recover and become more resilient.

They aim to reduce future losses.

Well done! Today, it's a lot of learning.

I hope you've enjoyed it and I hope you've understood how people respond to tropical storms. I hope to see you again soon.

Well done!.