On Saturday, an underwater volcano in Tonga erupted in the South Pacific Ocean. Tonga is an island nation in the South Pacific ocean, home to about 105,000 people. The volcano, known as Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, is located off the coast of Tonga. Even though the volcano was underwater, it sent lots of gas, ash (灰烬) and stones 12 miles into the sky.

It took a while to get reports from Tonga because the event knocked out internet service in the area. Like most island nations, Tonga gets its internet through a cable that runs deep under the sea. Experts say it’s not yet clear whether the cable was broken during the event or simply lost power.

A four-foot wave hit the capital, Nuku’ alofa. People in low-lying areas were forced to go to higher ground. There are reports of serious damage in Tonga. Many houses near the shore were flooded. At present, the biggest danger is probably from the smoke and ash from the volcano that has covered much of Tonga. The ash makes the air dangerous to breathe, and it is believed to have polluted many sources of drinking water.

New Zealand and Australia have sent teams to Tonga to help out. Some of the teams will use airplanes to get a better idea of the damage across the island nation. The large cloud of ash high above Tonga is making it impossible to get a good picture of what’s happening in the area from high in the air.

When: On December 18, 2023

Where: Jishishan County, Gansu, China

What happened: An earthquake killed at least 148 people. The biggest one had a magnitude (震级) of 6.2.

How many people were injured: More than 1,000

Jishishan is a small county in Northwest China. It’s in the mountains and has a population of about 260,000.

At 23:59 on a cold night of December 18, 2023, many people in Jishishan were sleeping when the earthquake happened. It was very strong, and houses began to shake. After hearing big noises, people ran out of their houses as quickly as possible. They were very scared. A lot of buildings and roads were destroyed. People in Lanzhou, about 100 kilometers northeast of the place, also felt the quake.

After the earthquake, the biggest problem was the cold temperature. The government worked hard to help the people immediately. They received tents, food and medicine from the government. Doctors and nurses came to help the injured people. At least 4,000 firefighters, soldiers and police officers went there to offer help.

How to keep safe in an earthquake? In most situations, you can protect yourself if you immediately DROP, COVER, and HOLD ON.

If you are inside, stay inside.

—Get under a table or a bed.

—Stay away from windows.

—Don’t use lifts.

If you are outside, stay outside.

—Move away from buildings.

—Go to an open area away from trees, telephone poles, and buildings.

Happy Valley(欢乐谷) is a wonderful place full of fun. On December 15^th , Li Lei had a good time here with his classmates.

They all wanted to ride Space Shot(太空梭) first. It could send people sixty meters into the air quickly. And after only thirty seconds, people could be back to the ground. It was so exciting. But there were so many people.

Then they went to Gold Mine(金矿) Town and traveled on the Gold Mine Train. There was great excitement on the train when it started moving.

They also took part in some English activities. Through the activities, Li Lei improved his English a lot. He could introduce Happy Valley to foreigners in English.