Earthquake victims

The victims of Christchurch earthquake include injured people and the dead. Some of the injured have lost legs which were crushed by falling concrete or steel. Many injured went by helicopter to other hospitals in New Zealand because Christchurch hospital is very busy. Some people are badly injured and will take a long time to recover.

Today, the police gave the names of three more people who died during the earthquake. The total now is 160 dead and another 80 still missing. Their bodies may never be recovered.

Today families of those who died in the earthquake were taken around the city to see the work that Search and Rescue are doing to find the bodies. 150 of those families were New Zealanders and 250 foreigners. Many foreigners were killed – some were tourists sightseeing in the city and others were attending an English language school. The families said that it was helpful for them to see the place where their loved ones died.

More than 900 people from 12 countries are helping to find the bodies in collapsed buildings. It is slow and dangerous work.

Vocabulary question
“recover” is used here twice but they have different meanings. What does each one mean?
Note that “injured” and “dead” are adjectives but here they are also used as nouns: the injured and the dead.

Discussion Questions
How will Christchurch encourage English language students to come back to the city?
How will Christchurch encourage tourists to come back to the city?

5 thoughts on “Earthquake victims”

  1. 1st paragraph recover meaning become healthy again.2nd paragraph recover meaning find again, get back.

  2. the first recover meant that will be better after.
    2nd recover meant that is dead.
    the goverment can give the welfare to the international students or reduce the tuition and so on.

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