Ready, Set, Prepare!
Supplementary Activities

Note: These activities can be done independently, but will have the greatest effect if done in succession

Natural Disaster Quiz-bowl:
Time: 15 minutes (+10 minutes for preparation)
Materials: Note Cards, Marker, Tape, and “prizes” (optional)
Description: Before you meet with your youth, you will need to prepare some materials. In this game there will be 4 categories with 5 questions ranging in point values from 100-500 in increments of 100. (Think Jeopardy, only you do not need to answer in the form of a question). The categories are Tornadoes, Floods, Earthquakes, and Hurricanes, and the questions in each category become harder as the point values increase. Below is a list of recommended questions and answers for each category, but feel free to replace them with your own questions where you see fit. (You can use these as a starting point to make your Quiz-bowl easier or more difficult!) Write the categories on four cards and tape them to the wall. Next make 4 cards of each point value, writing the number on the blank side of the card. Write the question and acceptable answers on the lined side and tape the cards under their respective categories in ascending order from top to bottom.

When your youth arrive, have them sit facing the wall and divide them into two or three groups. Give each group a few minutes to come up with an animal sound as their buzzer (Moo, Caw Caw, Meow, Bark, etc). At this point, explain the point system and that the questions get harder the higher the point value and then start the game with the kick-off question. The first team to buzz-in and correctly answer the kick-off question takes control of the board and picks the first category and point value. It is up to your judgment whether or not to have a prize for the winning team.

Kick-Off Question
Q: In the case of an emergency what three numbers should you dial when you call for help? A: 9-1-1

Tornados
Q: True or False. The strongest wind on earth was recorded in a tornado.
A: True. A tornado in Oklahoma currently holds the record with 318mph winds. (100 points)

Q: The Fujita Scale is used to measure the intensity of tornados. What is the most intense level a tornado can reach, an F-1 or F-5?
A: F-5 (200 points)

Q: When multiple tornados develop from the same storm it is called an . . . ?
A: Outbreak (300 points)

Q: During what season are tornados most likely to form?
A: Spring (400 points)

Q: When seeking shelter from a tornado where should you go?
A: A basement, away from windows, downstairs, or inside are all acceptable answers (500 points)

Floods
Q: True or False. In the event that you are stranded by a flood you should try to swim to safety.
 A: False. Flood waters are unpredictably dangerous and/or often contaminated. The best course of action is to go to the highest dry point possible and signal for help. Swimming or walking across moving water is a last resort. (100 points)

Q: Name one man-made structure that is used to manage the potential for flooding.
A: Dam or Levee (200 points)

Q: If the Wolf Creek Dam failed, it would result in the flooding of what river that flows through Nashville?
A: The Cumberland River (300 points)

Q: When flood waters rise the Army Corps of Engineers use bags filled with what to build temporary barriers to protect buildings?
A: Sand (400 points)

Q: When we think of floods we often imagine a large area of land covered by water for a few weeks. What is the term for smaller floods that move extremely fast and can be highly destructive and deadly?
A: Flash Floods (500 points)

Earthquakes
Q: True or False. There is at least 1 earthquake somewhere in the world each day.
A: True. It is actually estimated that there are between 9,000 and 10,000 earthquakes each day. (100 points)

Q: What is the natural disaster involving lava that earthquakes are often closely related to?
A: Volcanic Eruptions (200 points)

Q: In the event of an earthquake where should you seek shelter?
A: Under a table, in a door frame, in a bathtub, or in an open field are all acceptable answers (300 points)

Q: Earthquakes are measured using the Richter Scale. Which is stronger: a magnitude-3 earthquake or a magnitude-8 earthquake?
A: A magnitude-8 earthquake is 100,000 times stronger than a magnitude-3 earthquake. (400 points)

Q: When a large earthquake occurs under the ocean there is a good chance a ________ will develop and devastate coastlines for thousands of miles.
A: Tsunami (500 points)

Hurricanes
Q: True or False. Hurricane season is from November to January.
A: False. Hurricane season is technically from June to November. (100 points)

Q: The calm center of a hurricane is called the . . . ?
A: Eye (200 points)

Q: What category hurricane is stronger: category-1 or category-5?
A: Category-5 (300 points)

Q: Tropical Cyclones that form over the Atlantic Ocean are called hurricanes. What are they called if they form over the Pacific Ocean?
A: Typhoons (400 points)

Q: What major US city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina 2 years ago?
A: New Orleans (500 points)
 

Emergency Plan:
Time: 30 minutes
Materials: For each youth have 2 copies of a map of your meeting space, building, and outdoor/indoor rendezvous points (hand drawn is fine) as well as colored markers. Description: Begin by explaining that we can never fully predict an emergency, but we can prepare for them. The first step to preparing for an emergency is to create an emergency plan. For the next ten minutes provide your youth with maps and take them on a tour of your meeting space, building, and rendezvous points. Before you leave your meeting space, tell your youth that the goal is to find the quickest and safest route to the rendezvous point most suitable for the disaster at hand. Start with the indoor rendezvous point which might be the basement or a windowless fist-floor hallway. At each turn ask your kids which way you should go. Once you make it to the indoor rendezvous point, return to your meeting space and let your youth spend some time coloring-in the route you just walked before you repeat the same process for the outdoor route. After your youth have finished coloring in their second map, work as a group to come up with a step-by-step plan that details how the group will get from your meeting space to the rendezvous point (dependent on the emergency) with the disaster kit. Have your youth write these steps on the back of each map (once again, dependent on the emergency). After you have completed these lists be sure to run through a short reflection.

Reflection: Will someone please tell me what we just did? Why is it important to make a emergency plan and walk through each step? Do you think you can take what you learned here today and make an emergency plan with your family at home?
 

Emergency Kit Scavenger Hunt:
Time: 30 minutes
Materials: Cardboard Box, Emergency Plan, and a number of disaster kit items such as a first aid kit, flashlight, canned food, bottled water, matches, Duct Tape, spare batteries, paper + pencil, etc. FEMA has a complete list of supplies you will want to include. (You should have a kit at your meeting space. If not, this would be a great way to assemble one and involve your youth so they know where it is and what is in it.)
Description: Before your youth arrive, place all the disaster kit items you have gathered randomly about your meeting space in kid accessible locations. Do not make them so obvious that the youth spot them before the activity begins. Once your group has returned from mapping their emergency plan explain that they have just completed the first step to being prepared. Another important step is to assemble an emergency kit, but you aren’t sure what should go in that kit. Ask your youth to imagine there is a disaster and they cannot access anything in their house except for the disaster kit which they stored just in case of an emergency like this. What would be in that kit? Now ask your youth to look around the room and over the next 5 minutes collect one or two items that they would put into their disaster kit. (Make sure you have enough items so that each youth can find one or two of them). Have the group circle up and one at a time present the items they found explaining why it is an important item for the kit. As the facilitator, you should start this process by presenting the emergency plan you created and explaining why you think it should be included in the kit. Once an item has been presented, have the group decide if it should go into the kit or not. All items that the group agrees should be included are put into the cardboard box. Once you have finished going around the circle decide as a group where the emergency kit you just created will be stored.

Reflection: Will someone please tell me what we just did? Why is it important to make a disaster kit and that everyone knows where it is? Do you think you can take what you learned here today and make a disaster kit with your family at home?

Facilitators Note: If you want to make sure your youth collect only items that should go in the kit provide them with a list of acceptable items as you would with a normal scavenger hunt.

Resources:
Stop Drop and Roll, Margery Cuyler
It's time to Call 911: What to do in an Emergency, Penton Overseas
Fire Safety: Be Safe, Peggy Pencella
No Dragons for Tea, Jean Pendziwol