Weather Gone Awry WebQuest

Think about it: how did the weather affect what you wore to school today? Is it raining today so you wore rain boots? Is it sunny so you can play outside with friends during recess? Even the smallest changes in weather can have the biggest impact. Emergency preparedness is the steps that you can take to prepare for an emergency situation that occurs as a result of weather gone awry and ensure your health and safety during and after the emergency. 

The goal of this WebQuest is to better understand the role of emergency preparedness in mitigating the effects of natural disasters by ensuring the health and safety of individuals and families in affected communities.

In areas prone to natural disasters, such as the southeast United States and hurricanes, many communities offer the ability to sign up for Wireless Emergency Alerts. These alerts can be sent to cell phones and emails to give community members notice of an emergency situation in their area and the steps that people should follow to ensure their safety and health. If the emergency requires a community evacuation, meaning that individuals must leave their homes and move to a more safe and secure location, individuals may only have a few minutes to grab their "Go Kit" and head to the designated location. 

During this activity, you will work in small groups and use resources on Ready Gov to write a Wireless Emergency Alert that will be sent to your community alerting them to an emergency situation. Then, you will work to develop an emergency "Go Kit" that you will take with you during the evacuation. 

At the end of this activity, you should be able to understand the importance of emergency alerts and the items that will be most useful in ensuring your safety and health in an emergency situation as a result of weather gone awry. 

In your small groups, you will first take on the roles of the government officials writing a Wireless Emergency Alert to notify your community that an approaching hurricane has yielded an evacuation. The alert will be sent to families in your community via text message and email. 

Second, you will now assume the role of a family who has received the alert and is responding to the emergency. You must grab the "Go Kits" for each member of your family before heading to the evacuation site. During this portion of the activity, you will work with your "family" to describe the items in the "Go Kit" and how they can be used during the emergency situation.

Step 1. Visit Ready Gov to learn more about how a hurricane forms and how they can turn into a natural disaster if communities are not readily prepared. 

Step 2. Visit Ready Gov to learn more about Wireless Emergency Alerts. In your group of government officials, construct and write a Wireless Emergency Alert to be sent to your community via text message and email. The alert is about an impending hurricane that is requiring your community to evacuate from their homes and move to the community recreation center to take shelter. 

Step 3. Assign two people from your group to be parents, and two people to be children. React to the emergency alert! Your family must now evacuate from your home to safer location, the community recreation center, and you only have a few minutes to grab your "Go Kits" and leave your home. You may each grab one personal item to bring with you. Discuss aloud in your group what item you would take and why.

Step 4. You have arrived at the community recreation center and are taking inventory of your "Go Kits" that you prepared a few months ago using instructions from Ready Gov. For the parents, what is in your "Go Kits?" And, children what is in yours? How can the items in each "Go Kit" help you stay safe and healthy during this emergency situation?

Step 5. Once all groups have finished steps 1-5, select one representative of the group to read your emergency alert aloud to the class. There will then be a discussion to compare and contrast with the other groups. 

Step 6. Select a different representative of the group to highlight 5 items in your "Go Kit" that your group believes are essential to surviving a hurricane evacuation. 

Step 7. Individual reflection. In one handwritten paragraph respond to this prompt: What if you had not been able to evacuate your home? What supplies do you think you would need to stay safe and healthy in your home during a hurricane when there is no power or electricity, high winds, and flooding in your community? Sumit to the teacher when finished.

Step 1 and 2: Each group will write and turn in a clear and concise Weather Emergency Alert that is 90 characters or less, describes the emergency situation, includes the evacuation location and has no more than 2 grammatical errors for full credit. 

Step 3, 4 and 5: One representative from each group will read aloud the Weather Emergency Alert that their group created.

Step 6: A different representative of the group will highlight 5 items in the groups "Go Kits" that the group believes are essential to surviving a hurricane evacuation. 

Step 7: Each student will turn in one hand-written paragraph (3-5 sentences) about what would happen if the student is unable to evacuate from their home in an emergency situation. 

You did it! You've created your first Weather Emergency Alert and "Go Kit." Now when you go home tonight, you can share all that you've done with friends and family, show them Ready Gov, and make your own "Go Kit" custom to emergencies your community might face.

The next time you hear of an approaching storm that is the result of weather gone awry, be sure to ask yourself- are you ready?

Ready Gov. (2016). Prepare. Plan. Stay Informed. Retrieved October 15, 2016, from https://www.ready.gov/kids

About the Author

Rebecca Downey is a senior at American University in Washington, D.C. studying Public Health with a minor in Education Studies.She has interned with the Volunteer Services program at Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic in Bethesda, Maryland and has been part of both the Genes in Life program and Expecting Health program at Genetic Alliance, Washington D.C.  Rebecca is passionate about passionate about health education, dogs, and learning through experiencing discomfort.