The recent earthquake that affected Chile really hit me and my friends extremely hard. One of our best friends, Tim, moved to Southern Argentina in September because he has never been there before and he loves to travel. In the beginning of February he called us and told us that he decided he was going to travel for two months; he was going to take a tent and just travel to different places he has never visited before. The only thing we knew was that his first destination was going to be Chile and he was going to spend a couple of weeks there after that he was just going to go with the flow and see where it took him.
When the earthquake hit on Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 3:34 with a magnitude of 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale and lasted for about three minutes. Many cities experienced the shaking, some were, Talcahuano, Arauco, Lota, Chiquayante, Canete, and San Antonio. The earthquake was also felt in the capital and in many Argentine cities. Seismologists estimate that the earthquake so powerful that it may have shortened the length of the day by 1.26 microseconds and moved the earth’s axis of rotation by 3 inches.
For at least three days after the earthquake no one could get in touch with our friend Tim. We talked to his family but they haven’t heard from him either. We got tremendously nervous, in anticipation for his phone call. Five days after the earthquake we got a facebook message from him saying that he left Chile a day before the earthquake and he was unable to get in contact with us only through the internet. I was very happy to finally here from him but I know understand the shock and emotions that people go through when they are unable to get in touch with a loved one and don’t know if they are safe.
VOCABULARY
Earthquake: a shaking or trembling of the earth.
Chile: country in South America
Travel: to go on trip or a tour
Tent: something that serves as a shelter; sheets of fabric with poles used for camping. Destination: a place worthy of travel or a long visit.
Go with the flow: to move on a course and see where it takes him.
Magnitude: great size, or long time
Seismologists: a science that deals with earthquakes
Microsecond: smaller than a second
Axis: the main line of direction
Rotation: moving around in a circle
SENTENCES:
1) The earth does a __________________ around the sun.
2) My friend Tim loves to ________________ and he visits all different countries.
3) _____________ is one country in South America.
4) I am going on a long trip and my _______________ is California.
5) When I go camping I like to stay in _______________.
6) He finished the race _________________ before Johnny did.
7) When I go out with my friends I usually ___________________________ and don’t care what we do.
8) When the earth shakes it is known as an _____________________.
9) The earth rotates on an _______________________.
10) When my brother Billy grows up he wants to become an _____________________ because he loves earthquakes.
11) The size of the earthquake is determined by its _____________________.
GRAMMAR POINT:
In the paragraphs above I talked about something that happened in the past. I used many verbs and most of the verbs were used in the past tense.
Can you find all the past tense verbs I used?
Write a paragraph using at least 5 past tense verbs talking about something that affect you greatly in the past.
The earthquake in Chile was in fact a devastating event. Mother nature is truly unpredictable. I am glad your friend is safe! Again, another great entry and I do agree that the safety of our loved ones is of great importance and concern for a lot of people. I hope the people of Chile will stay strong to persevere and rebuild their cities.
ReplyDeleteThat was a scary story about your friend. This was a really serious earthquake. I am glad he survived. I have a friend in Chile too. She runs an orphanage, but she and the orphans were all fine and we got word quickly because they weren't in the immediate area of the quake.
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