1 . Earthquakes are one type of natural disaster you simply can’t see coming. Earthquake preparation is the best way to deal with a confusing time. Here’s something you need to know about how to prepare for an earthquake.

Examine weak points in your home and make a plan to strengthen them. Protect your space or your home by finding out dangers and fixing moveable things.     1     Push top-heavy pieces such as bookshelves away from beds or sofas, and move the heavier things onto lower shelves.

Create an earthquake safety plan with your family. It’s key to create and practice an emergency plan with your family so that everyone knows what to do during a time of an earthquake. Talk about ways each family member can act as a team.     2    

    3     It may be under a strong piece of furniture which can protect you from falling objects or against any inside wall away from windows, bookshelves, or tall furniture that could fall on you.

Learn earthquake emergency plans at your workplace, children’s school or daycare center. Disaster can strike at any moment.     4     It’s also wise to make a note of how you plan to communicate with each other and how to let loved ones know you’re safe. Remember that cell phones may be unreliable (不可靠的) after an earthquake.

    5     Earthquakes usually last around one minute but if the damage is big enough, you could be trapped for a much longer period of time. You should have a bag containing medical equipment, food, water, flashlights and so on.

3 . Latin America’s first renewable fuel-powered, trash-trapping wheel is cleaning one of Panama’s dirtiest rivers. A local environmental group led the effort.

The wheel is powered by water and sun energy. It pulls waste out of the Juan Diaz River. Most of the waste comes from the capital area of Panama City, where about 2 million people live. Thousands of kilograms of rubbish flow down the river into the ocean each year.

Robert Getman is the leader of the project. “Cleaning beaches is good,” he said, “but it is more effective and cheaper to trap rubbish in rivers because when it reaches the ocean, the environmental and economic cost becomes too high.”

The environmental group Marea Verde created the wheel, which is named Wanda Diaz, in late September. By the middle of October, Wanda had gathered 28. 6 cubic meters of plastic bottles from the water.

The Juan Diaz River is one of the most polluted in Panama. Waste systems in the area are poor, and land development is not well supervised. The river also passes through Panama City, one of Central America’s largest cities.

Over five years, Marea Verde projects have slowed the spread of rubbish along Panama’s rivers and coastline. Earlier, the group introduced its “Barrier or Trash”technology, a floating device. It caught more than 100 metric tons of waste in the Matias Hernandez River between 2019 and 2020.

“We want to raise awareness that we can prevent the death of this very important river,”said Marea Verde member Sandy Watemberg. She expressed her hope that the wheel will help. But she also pointed to the need for those who use single-use plastics to rethink their behavior. “The most important thing is to achieve a change in habits,” she said.

4 . A great earthquake happened in southwestern China on May 12,2008, killing thousands of people. The quake struck Wenchuan and other parts of Sichuan Province in the middle of the afternoon and a number of school buildings, shops and homes were destroyed. The number of the dead and missing rose as rescue workers dug through flattened (夷为平地的) schools and homes to find survivors. It was reported that many people were still buried under the ruins in and around Mianyang, a city about 60 miles east of the epicenter (震中). People there spent a second night sleeping outside in the rain. The government ordered people not to return to their homes for safety concerns. Few lights were on in the city, and people ate and chatted by candlelight.

Rescue teams brought people to Mianyang's stadium for food and shelter. Outside the railway station, the police shouted in megaphones (扩音器) telling people where they could get free food. Buses carrying survivors left Beichuan, which is in the northeast of the epicenter and was also flattened by the quake. 1,000 students and teachers were killed or missing at a fallen high school in Beichuan County. At another school in the town of Juyuan, 900 students were buried under the ruins. There was little hope that many survivors would be found under the rubble. But officials asked the people not to give up hope. 20,000 soldiers arrived in the disaster area on the way by plane, train and truck and even on foot.

Thirty-one British tourists who were panda-watching in Wolong National Nature Reserve were safe. And the pandas were reported safe, too.

6 . Here is the latest news from BBC.

News One

More than 90 people are now known to have been killed by destructive tornadoes that swept through the Midwest of the United States on Friday. At least 80 were killed in Kentucky and 14 across five other states.

A worker at a Kentucky candle factory told the BBC that many workers had been killed when they worked there. As Peter Bowes reports, what people should do is being discussed when they are warmed that a tornado is on the way. And the owner of that factory has, in fact, been talking about this. But clearly it wasn’t of any use for the people in that building.

News Two

The number of people killed by flash floods in the US state of Tennessee has risen to more than 20 on Tuesday. Now rescue workers are continuing to look for those who are still missing.

Record rainfall of more than 40 centimeters in some areas caused widespread flooding. Buddy Frazier is the mayor (市长) of Waverly, one of the worst affected towns. “I’ve been around a long time, and I’ve been through a lot of events here, and this one really shocked me. “ He said.

News Three

Haiti’s civil protection service says around 1300 people are now known to have lost their lives in Saturday’s powerful earthquake which struck the southwest of the country.

Hospitals in the area are fighting to cut down the number of the injured, which is almost doubled to around 6000 people. In the cities of Jeremies and Les Cayes, rescuers are trying to locate people still trapped under ruins.