Task 1 . Reading
La Palma is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of 708 square kilometres (273 sq mi) making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The total population at the end of 2020 was 85,840.. Its highest mountain is the Roque de los Muchachos, at 2,423 metres, being second among the peaks of the Canaries only to the peaks of the Teide massif on Tenerife.
La Palma, like the other islands of the Canary Island archipelago, is a volcanic ocean island. So La Palma’s geography is a result of the volcanic formation of the island. The highest peaks reach over 2,400 m above sea level, and the base of the island is located almost 4,000 m below sea level. The northern part of La Palma is dominated by the Caldera de Taburiente, with a width of 9 km and a depth of 1,500 m. It is surrounded by a ring of mountains ranging from 1,600 m to 2,400 m in height. On its northern side is the exposed remains of the original seamount. Only the deep Barranco de las Angustias (“Ravine of Anxiety”) ravine leads into the inner area of the caldera, which is a national park. It can be reached only by hiking. The outer slopes are cut by numerous gorges which run from 2,000 m down to the sea. Today, only a few of these carry water due to the many water tunnels that have been cut into the island’s structure.
From the Caldera de Taburiente to the south runs the ridge Cumbre Nueva (‘New Ridge’, which despite its name is older than the Cumbre Vieja, ‘Old Ridge.’) The southern part of La Palma consists of the Cumbre Vieja, a volcanic ridge formed by numerous volcanic cones built of lava and scoria. The Cumbre Vieja is active, currently erupting in the 2021 La Palma eruption. Beyond Punta de Fuencaliente at the southern tip of the island, the Cumbre Vieja continues in a southerly direction as a submarine volcano.
Since the Spanish have kept records, there have been eight eruptions – all of which have occurred on the Cumbre Vieja:
- 1470–1492 Montaña Quemada
- 1585 Tajuya near El Paso
- 1646 Volcán San Martin
- 1677 Volcán San Antonio
- 1712 El Charco
- 1949 Volcán Nambroque at the Duraznero, Hoyo Negro and Llano del Banco vents
- 1971 Volcán Teneguía
- 2021 Volcán Tajogaite (ongoing)
The volcano started erupting again on 19th September 2021 after a seismic crisis rocked the island.
Task 2 – Fact finding. Choose a number to complete these sentences about natural disasters.
1) There are over _______ active volcanoes around the world.
2) Tsunamis can travel at up to _______ miles per hour.
3) Hurricanes only form when water temperature reaches ___________ ºC.
4) _______ % of the world’s population live within danger range of volcanoes.
Task 3 – Read the messages and then answer the following questions.
We asked our readers to send in their views on these two questions:
-Do you think there are more natural disasters than in the past?
-Do you think we are prepared to deal with the disasters?
Sarah – “I think it’s really scary that there are so many natural disasters these days. There are far more than in the past. Every time you switch on the news you see places that are flooded or countries in drought. I’m sure it’s all connected to climate change and global warming.’’
James – “ We watch so many natural disasters on the news these days that you become immune to them. I don’t mean that in a horrible way, but it always seems so far away and there’s absolutely nothing you can do to help the poor people who are there. ”
Cindy – ‘’The hurricanes and earthquakes that have happened in the past month just prove how unprepared we are for natural disasters. It’s crazy that with all the technology and information available to us nowadays natural disasters still kill so many people. They should spend more money on research to develop warning systems for hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and tsunamis.”
Roger – “You can’t prepare for natural disasters as nobody knows when or where they are going to happen. It’s nature’s way of reminding us that she is in charge and we should respect her a lot more than we do.“
1• Who do you agree with?
2• Who do you disagree with? Why?
3• How would you answer the two questions?
Task 4 What do you think about this piece of news?:
