Year 5 Reflect on Natural Hazards, with Visitor Andrew Gissing

‘This term for CLP, Year 5 has been learning about natural hazards and natural disasters. Since we had been learning about this, we had Andrew Gissing come in to tell us all about natural hazards. He is the Chief Executive Officer for Natural Hazard Research of Australia. Andrew told us all about natural hazards and the several types of events. I learnt many things, yet one thing I learnt was that whenever there is an earthquake you can mitigate it by having an early warning system. Seismologist sends out alerts for people to prepare for these events. Students at school can go under the table and stay away from buildings. This was a wonderful experience and Year 5 learnt lots about natural hazards.’
– Avni Narang (Year 5)

‘On Wednesday 28 May, Andrew Gissing, gave a presentation about natural hazards, what they are, and how they work. First, he told us about recent natural hazards that have occurred in the past few months/years, including the 2022 Lismore floods and the earthquake last Saturday, in NSW. Then he started showing us some slides of all the natural disasters. One of them was cyclones, which are also known as typhoons, but not tornadoes. One of the most interesting things I learnt was that cyclones have different layers. The inner layer in the very centre is called the eye. And it’s actually not the strongest part of the cyclone but instead, the calmest, with no strong winds at all! I found that the reason the eye was so calm, was because the wind in the eye goes up and the rest is of the cyclone is going down and across. Did you know that in Australia the cyclone travels right? Another natural hazard we learned about was how to stay safe from earthquakes at school. Andrew told us that we can hide under our desks and stay inside. It’s called stop drop hold.  We learnt a lot about natural hazards and how to stay safe and how to recognise one.’
– Anushkaa Thadani (Year 5)

Andrew Gissings’ visit to MLC School

‘Year 5 had met a professional in natural disasters, for this term we are learning about natural disasters and hazards. His name is Andrew Gissing. He told us all about natural disasters from why they happen, what types are there, how to prepare for them and what should we do if they occur. For an example NEVER swim in flood water for they have bacteria and all sorts of animals in there. He also told us many facts. Andrew helped us in our learning a lot because almost all of us learnt something new today! Overall we are SO grateful for this experience.’
– Sherry Wei (Year 5)

‘On Wednesday Year 5 had an amazing opportunity to meet Andrew Gissing. He taught us the impact of natural hazards and how they affect the environment. As well as different types of natural hazards. We learnt importance of preparing and thinking quickly in those type of situations. We discussed about all the types of natural hazards like earthquakes, flood, tsunami, hurricanes, wildfires, droughts, floods, tornadoes and many more. We learnt a lot from him and year 5 had a great experience learning all about this topic.’
– Isabella Sapolyo (Year 5)