I In Papua New Guinea, some villagers had to live off forest leaves after a severe frost destroyed vegetable crops already hit by the worst drought in living memory. They should talk through what would happen and write a list of the first six things they would do, followed by three ways in which their family might try to repair any damage done or get things back to normal after a few days. Alternatively choose one type of weather and brainstorm with the class what they would do. Discuss the lists and ask pupils to cross out all those activities for dealing with the situation which require money. Then cross out all those activities requiring phones or computers or radios, then all those needing motorised transport.
Poor countries are less able to protect their citizens.
Ask pupils how many of them remember reports of storms over Christmas and the tornado in Selsey in the South of England early in January when 1000 homes were damaged and 2 people were injured. It is inevitable that we are more aware of the impact of unusual weather on our own doorstep but newspapers tend to give less space to overseas disasters than our own, even if they are of far greater magnitude. Track the coverage of natural disasters over a term and compare the reporting of disasters in Europe and America with those further afield. Tune into the News and the information and activity on news values. Global express aims to enable young people to gain a greater understanding of the context in which news stories from the developing world happen, and to build links between their experience of life and their understanding of development issues.