Back into the swing of things with my Chair of GlosGeog (Gloucestershire’s local Geographical Association [GA] branch) hat on! For our first virtual speaker session of this academic year, aimed at Key Stage 4 and 5 students and their teachers, I managed to secure the services of Mark Giffard-Lindsay. Mark is Managing Director of Global Action, a company providing educational trips overseas for UK schools, but has previously overseen disaster relief teams in the Himalayas, working with the International Red Cross in Nepal, and acted as a consultant at the United Nations (UN). Furthermore, he holds a Master’s degree in Governance and International Development acquired from the University of Sussex. Certainly a man with a wealth of knowledge and experience to share! The theme for Mark’s talk was ‘Tectonic Hazards – effects and responses to the 2015 Nepal earthquake’, a case study covered in many schools. Today, we were joined by students and teachers from over 55 schools located throughout the UK and beyond in real time, with a further 30 or so establishments accessing a recording and the accompanying slides to view at a later date.
As schools were being let into the Zoom meeting, a video was playing in the background to transport them to Nepal (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89s6vHB6_Gw).
Following my formal welcome, introductions and housekeeping reminders, Mark began by sharing his journey, from grassroots to global policy, and outlined the agenda for the session.
Next, he projected two maps of the Himalayan region to develop students’ place and locational knowledge, as well as highlight its key physical and human characteristics.
Mark then posed a question to his audience, ‘Why is the impact of a natural disaster on a LIC likely to be worse than a HIC?‘, inviting teachers to gather answers from students and insert them into the accompanying chat feed. A few of their responses can be seen below:
Their infrastructure is less well developed.
Less access to resources, e.g. aid.
They do not have the money to respond and build defences and rebuild.
They have fewer systems in place to mitigate the risk in comparison to HICs, such as Japan who have earthquake-proof designs.
Brief reference was made to the first case study, namely the flash floods on the Tibetan Plateau in 2000, as Mark was personally involved in the response. It was fascinating to hear about his first-hand experiences.
More time was dedicated to the second case study, the 2015 Nepal earthquake.
Mark explained that there was no national government department responsible for disaster relief in 2015 and asked the audience what impact they thought this might have had. Some of their responses, which were added to the chat feed, can be viewed below:
We think the impact would be less organisation, slower responses, more deaths and less coordinated aid.
Slower decision-making so leads to more secondary issues, such as disease outbreak.
No way to coordinate a large scale response across the country; no way to allocate resources to the people who need it.
Slower, more disorganised response.
Chaos – slower response, no plans in place, disease.
No money put aside, lack of communication.
Increased amount of secondary deaths.
Increase in death and disappearances from buildings collapsing.
No defences or planning implemented.
Within the time, Mark managed to touch upon changing places in terms of urbanisation and earthquakes, the physical and human impacts of the earthquake, a changing sense of place and the impact on eco-tourism, the Nepal earthquake response: challenges and grassroot responses. The short video that was played clearly demonstrated the action that was taken (https://www.euronews.com/2018/06/27/push-to-speed-up-rebuilding-three-years-on-from-nepal-earthquakes). Mark also elaborated on the input of Global Action, which involved organising four UK schools to travel to Nepal just six months after the earthquake to support a local charity and rebuild Gogan Higher School. This enabled 120 Nepalese children to return to school to pursue their education.
Mention was made to the flash flooding in Nepal in August 2026 and Mark was able to update us on the situation there having been in recent contact with locals and those working in the field.
Furthermore, it was interesting to learn about Global Action schools in the UK working with a local Nepalese charity to install clean water systems in educational establishments. This will help to reduce illness and disease, as well as increase school attendance, supporting progress towards the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in health and education in Nepal.
Finally, Mark encouraged youngsters to contemplate a career in international development. Our eyes were opened to the range of roles that are on offer; it gave many students much food for thought.
Approximately fifteen minutes were set aside towards the end for a Q&A session. Due to the large number of schools attending, it was suggested that teachers gathered questions from the students in their class and then inserted them into the chat feed. I used these to ‘hot seat’ Mark, hopefully gaining answers to as many of their questions as possible in the designated time.
Some of their questions are listed below:
What role in any of the sectors you discussed would focus on the actual management and coordination policies for natural disasters?
Can you tell us about the process of reopening Mount Everest and other tourism attractions in Nepal?
How was the experience during the aftermath of the earthquake?
How did the schools get involved?
How is Nepal working to improving access to education?
What was the volume of snow from the avalanche in metric tonnes?
How many countries gave aid to Nepal in 2015?
Is it normal for governments to put tax on aid coming into the country – or is this unusual?
Do you think Nepal can fully recover by 2030?
What, in your opinion, was the worst impact of the earthquake? And, why was it worse than others?
Mark answered each one honestly, confidently and comprehensively.
His final message was an inspirational and positive one:
Before the session came to a close, teachers were requested to complete a brief online evaluation form with their students. We, at GlosGeog, review each response thoroughly to ensure that we continue to meet the needs and interests of our targeted audience.
Some of their ‘concluding comments‘ can be viewed below:
Whilst we unfortunately couldn’t see anything, our school found it a really engaging presentation. It was full of really great detail for not only exams, but also careers too , which I personally found amazing to hopefully inspire our students. Thank you again for organising this …
Thank you so much for the informative talk!
Thank you Emma Espley for organising, and Mark Giffard-Lindsay for such an interesting session! Despite some technical difficulties at the start (and two classes squeezed into one room!), it was a really enjoyable session. We had just been studying the 2015 Nepal earthquake in our lessons, so the session was particularly relevant for our students. They asked some really great questions, and it was lovely to see them watching the questions appear on screen and then being answered — the sudden hush when it was 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 question was brilliant! It was also great to see how geography can link to careers in disaster relief. One of the questions I was asked afterwards was: “How can we get involved and be one of the schools working with schools in Nepal?”.
Excellent information – shame that we only had access to audio.
Very informative and relevant.
The information was detailed and insightful.
Good information, but lacking visual stimulation.
Informative, interesting, well structured, relevant.
I thought it was great to get a deep insight from an expert on the ground. Especially to look at how things have evolved and changed over time in terms of disaster preparedness.
Geography in action – inspiring for students to see.
Informative, inspiring audio first-hand account.
Good links to hazards A Level specification.
Inspiring for future career paths.
Many thanks to Mark for giving up his time and both informing and enthusing us all. The audience was attentive and offered some very valuable and willing contributions.
Our next virtual speaker session with the infamous Tim Marshall (author of ‘Prisoners of Geography’) was a sell-out just days after the first promotional material was released. If you have not managed to secure a place in real time, then do not fret as a recording will be made available shortly after the event to those that have registered an interest. There are further virtual speaker sessions planned for November, December and early 2027, which will be advertised in the next few weeks. Keep an eye on your inbox and social media feeds and make sure you act swiftly to gain a place for your school!