July 16, 2026 - IELTS BAND7

IELTS Cue Card – Earthquakes

July 16, 2026 IELTS Research 3 comments

Earthquakes are a kind of natural disaster that destroys livelihoods more than any other form of natural disaster does. Not that the impact of the others is not high, but the frequency of earthquakes in recent times has been so high that it has impacted livelihoods and business like no other. This time let us have a look at some questions that could be asked related to a calamity in Section II of the speaking section in IELTS.

Describe a natural calamity that you fear. You should say:

what it is and why do you fear it

how long it has existed

how it affects people’s lives

and explain how you think the damage can be reduced.

SAMPLE ANSWER 1

The one calamity that truly shakes me up is an earthquake. The reason I really am afraid of earthquakes is that they cause more destruction and are often responsible for causing other forms of natural calamities. For instance, landslides and then tsunamis. Earthquakes, if they do not take away lives, do cause some buildings to fall. Often these are the lifetime savings of an individual. Even more, it has been observed that earthquakes often come at times when nothing much could be done. Like, during the night, when everyone is sleeping. Most people do not even feel the tremors until they die.

Earthquakes have been part of our history since Earth was made. They were responsible for shaking things up and changing our lands. Earthquakes surely bring about a lot of changes. Not only do they cause deaths and tremors, often times they shatter people’s dreams. For example, the 2001 earthquake of Gujarat not only caused loss of life, but there were many who had just built a home or had bought a shop. People lost almost everything in it.

The only way we can fight back against earthquakes is by building homes and shops that are strong enough to handle earthquakes. Also, there should be better analysis of earthquakes done to ensure that people know about them beforehand and can take preventive measures.

EARTHQUAKES

SAMPLE ANSWER 2

The one natural calamity that I dread is an earthquake. The mere sight of losing everything that you have, not only the ones you love but also your dreams, shakes me up. Recently, while watching a video on earthquakes, I saw a person’s half body under a stone, and he was crying. The scene was so painful that I felt bad for the entire day. Even more, earthquakes happen so fast and change things in ways that one can never imagine.

Earthquakes not only affect lives primarily but are also responsible for causing other natural calamities, like tsunamis and landslides. On top of it, they have become so frequent that it seems as if some part of the Earth is always shaking up. As far as I know, earthquakes are the reason Earth and all our lives came into existence, and they have been part of us since Earth came into being.

The only way we can fight back against an earthquake is by making sure that our walls are strong enough to endure it. Not only of our home but of our office and any place that we go. It is often our negligence to make safer places that makes the impact of earthquakes worse. Also, proper analysis must be done for the earthquake, and if there is a chance of it, people should be made aware of it through news channels or any other medium of mass communication.

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