SUMMARY
Hopes faded that more people will be found alive in Venezuela, several days after earthquakes slammed the country on June 24-25. The government's official death toll has risen past 3,500 people (updated since this segment added), though that is believed to be a vast undercount. By one estimate, 50,000 people remain missing, and 60,000 buildings may have collapsed across the northern coast. Stephanie Sy reports.
View the transcript of the story.
NOTE: If you are short on time, watch the video and complete this See, Think, Wonder activity: What did you notice? What did the story make you think? What would you want to learn more about? You can also make a Google doc copy of these general discussion questions.
News alternative: Check our recent segments from the News Hour, and choose the story you’re most interested in watching and see the Google doc above for discussion questions.
WARM-UP QUESTIONS
- Who is being blamed for the earthquake?
- Where did this earthquake take place?
- Why are families afraid of going back into their home?
- How has the government responded to this earthquake?
- What are families saying about the level to which the government has provided support post-earthquake?
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
- Why are the Venezuelan people blaming the government? Are they justified? Explain.
- Has the government provided adequate support to the Venezuelan community, in your opinion?
Media literacy:
Analyze the following image and caption below. After, discuss with peers the severity of this earthquake based off of the death and injury tolls that have been estimated as of most recent. Additionally, discuss factors that could have caused this earthquake to have created damages of much more exponential level. The PBS News Hour video can be used as a reference point.
WHAT STUDENTS CAN DO
This earthquake has not been the only struggle that Venezuelans have experienced recently. As said by the attached PBS News Hour segment, Venezuela has been going through an economic, social, and political crisis that has only been worsened with the earthquake.
As students, you all will be tasked with learning more about the different types of crisis that Venezuela has been going through before this event. Pick one of the three following options:
- economic crisis
- social crisis
- political crisis
After you are done researching, it will then be time to come up with solutions. As a class, you all will discuss on action steps that need to be taken either by the government or outside resources in order to help the Venezuelan people recover from this tragedy. Create a list of everything that can be done. This is important to acknowledge as noticing the broad scope of issues that a country faces is necessary in order to zero in on all the resources that can be allocated for said community.
Written by PBS News Hour Classrooms Intern Justin Vasquez and PBS News Hours Victoria Pasquantonio
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