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Will we forget?
From Tsunami in
Asia | Primary school assembly
ideas
Through questioning, you could ask pupils to identify
the long-term needs of these communities. These might include:
- Counselling for dealing with trauma and grief
- New farm tools
- New cooking equipment
- Restock farm animals
- Rebuild homes
- Rebuild and equip schools
- Rebuild and equip hospitals
- Rebuild roads and railways
- Improve tsunami early warning systems
- Train local people in emergency relief work
- Restoring people's livelihoods (e.g. new fishing
boats, tourism)
Emphasise that ultimately the people affected by the
tsunami will not want to be dependent on charity. They want to stand
on their own two feet.
Could the tsunami disaster be a turning point
for the world?
Note that the tsunami disaster and the world's
reaction to it show us two very valuable lessons as we work out
how to make that long-term difference.
Encourage pupils to see that:
- amazing things can happen when human beings cooperate
with each other - across national, cultural and religious boundaries
- governments respond when people like you and me
show that we care about these issues - just look at how the generous
response from ordinary people has encouraged governments to act
Depending on the age range of your pupils you may
wish to point out that the World Disasters Report tells us that
98 per cent all deaths from natural disasters occur in the world's
poorest countries. That's not because they have more hurricanes,
earthquakes, floods and tsunamis - it is because the poor are always
more vulnerable to these events. Making poverty history would make
millions of people's lives safer and happier.
So what CAN we do to make a difference in the
long-term?
Pupils can be encouraged to think about this question
outside of the assembly, perhaps carry out some further research
and discussions in their classrooms and at a future assembly report
back on their ideas.
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the other materials from this section.
From Tsunami in
Asia | Primary school assembly
ideas
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