The Language of Disaster

Many students want to talk about the recent unfortunate events in northeastern Japan.
Luckily, disasters (災害) don't happen so often, so we rarely use disaster vocabulary.

When we tell somebody about a disaster for the first time, we usually just use this Be-verb pattern:

There was / is / will be

• an earthquake (地震）
• an aftershock (余震)
• a tsunami (津波)
• a flood (洪水)
• a fire (火事)
• an explosion (爆発)
• a meltdown (炉心溶融)
• an eruption (噴火)
• a hurricane （竜巻）
• a typhoon （台風）
• an avalanche (雪崩)
• an epidemic (疫病)

例：There was an earthquake, then there was a tsunami, and then there was a flood. There are still aftershocks. Many people are worried that there will be a meltdown. They are worried about radiation poisoning (放射能中毒).

When we are telling a story about that time, we often use "happen":

例：When the earthquake happened, I was in Miyagi.

"Occur" is a slightly more formal word that is used more in news reports:

例：A major earthquake occurred off the coast of Japan this morning…

-------ご注意-------
Sometimes, students incorrectly use the verb "attack":

X Kobe was attacked by an earthquake. X

However, "attack" means to aggressively act against someone or something; to want to hurt them. Earthquakes and tsunamis can't be aggressive (they don't have feelings), so they cannot attack.
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Luckily, many people want to donate (寄付する) money, food, and clothes to disaster relief (災害救助).

投稿者：管理者　日時：04月30日　13：50　｜パーマリンク