The Eye-Opening Truth About Natural Disasters

By J.R. Fisher
Feb 26, 2017

The Eye-Opening Truth About Natural Disasters

We’re going to let you in on a little secret here…

You can’t STOP a natural disaster from happening. It is, after all, NATURAL.

The truth is, you CAN, however, prepare yourself for the unexpected!
That’s right!

YOU...can learn how to be prepared and protect yourself and your friends/family!
That is some exciting stuff!

Today, you have the privilege of learning about 5 different types of disasters that can occur and what you can do to prepare yourself.

We’re going to dig into earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, drought, and hurricanes.
With each one you’re going to learn specifically what can be done and how you can prepare.

Before talking about the different natural disasters, it is important to note that you should do your research and learn what disasters are more common in your area and what the potential is for each one to occur.

Next, you will make a plan!

No more hesitation, let’s jump in!

Let’s start with earthquakes by briefly learning what they are.

This event is the random shaking under the Earth’s surface that generally occurs at a fault line, or cracks in the Earth.

The effects can be very subtle or felt over a large area, depending on how large the earthquake is.

Can we predict these?
Unfortunately no.

That’s ok, we’re going to learn how to prepare!

1. Gather your family for a meeting and determine where your safe location would be in the event of an earthquake.

You can observe your home or places that you frequent and decide where the best place is that you can take cover.

You’ll want to be against an interior wall or somewhere that you can drop to the ground so that you don’t fall.
(Make sure it is not near a window or a place where items could fall on you.)

2. Create an emergency survival kit with first aid, food, water, and any other essentials you would need.

3. In the case that an earthquake is happening, no matter where you are, you’ll want to drop to the ground, if you can do so safely, and cover your head/neck with your arms.

The most important point is that you should really stay where you are unless it’s by a window or someplace knowingly dangerous, and stay there until the shaking stops.

Next up...Tornadoes!

A tornado is an extension of a severe thunderstorm. These can also accompany tropical storms and hurricanes.

They are funnel shaped clouds that rotate down to the ground and can create winds of up to 300 miles per hour.

As we all know, tornadoes can demolish buildings and homes in a matter of seconds.

How can you prepare?

1. Make a plan with your family on where you will go if a tornado hits.

You’ll want to go to the most ground level of where you are or the basement if you have one.

Plan out what you’d do if you were outside and couldn’t get in a building.

2. Know the warning signs

Low dark clouds with movement, loud train-like sounds, hail, dark skies, and of course, paired with a thunderstorm.

3. Be in the know

Pay attention to your weather alerts and news stations.
Many times they will issue a watch or warning if they know one is approaching.

4. Create an emergency survival kit with first aid, food, water, and any other essentials you would need.

If a tornado has hit, the #1 key item you’ll want to remember is to seek shelter.

Flooding

If you’ve heard a watch or warning for a flood in your area, there are a lot of guidelines you should follow.

What should you do?

Plan with your family on where the highest ground is or where you would meet up if separated.
Listen to the radio/TV for updates. If they call for an evacuation, you’ll need to know this.
Prepare your home by turning off gas or electric appliances to avoid electrocution.
Create an emergency survival kit with first aid, food, water, and any other essentials you would need.
Do NOT walk or drive through water. Many times the depth can be deceiving and people will get swept off their feet or their car can stall and flood.
If water is rising quickly or you know there is a chance of a flash flood in your area, immediately get to higher ground.
If you’ve evacuated, only return home once you’ve gotten notice that is it safe to return from your local authorities.

Drought

Some people don’t really think of a drought as a natural disaster, but it is!

Luckily, for this one, we can really prepare with water conservation.

1. Repair dripping faucets or leaky pipes. It may not seem like a lot, but the water that is leaking can add up.

2. Choose appliances (toilet, water head, etc) that are water efficient.

3. Harvest your rainwater.

4. Outside, you can use mulch in flower beds, around trees, etc to keep the moisture longer.

5. Conserve water:
This can be as simple as turning the water off while brushing your teeth, not letting the water run while scrubbing a dish, or even catching that water in a bucket while you are waiting for it to get hot in the shower and using that to water your plants.

6. In your emergency survival kit, stockpile water for you and your family.

Honestly, there are SO many ways you can prepare for a drought just by using all the different methods of water conservation.

Hurricanes

These are large storms that gather energy and heat from the ocean water and when they touch land, they can be very hazardous!

Hurricanes seem to be a pretty common natural disaster that you CAN actually prepare for and luckily, we generally have a good heads up when one is coming our way.

We’re REALLY able to prepare for this.

1. First and foremost make a disaster plan with your family. Decide where you’ll meet if you’re split up, assign everyone roles, and make sure everyone knows what to do if a hurricane hits.

2. Create an emergency survival kit with first aid, food, water, and any other essentials you would need.

3. Know your area’s emergency evacuation route and plan where you would stay. (This should be part of your disaster plan)

4. You can prepare your home by purchasing a generator in case you lose power.

5. Have a portable radio or a source to be able to listen to news/weather updates.

6. Board up or place hurricane shutters on the windows.(During a hurricane it is advised to stay away from all windows even if they are boarded)

7. Fill your car’s gas tank up in the event you need to leave.

8. Charge your phone so you have full power if you need it.

There are so many different ways you can prepare for a hurricane that the list is really endless, but you will have a good educated jump to start preparing.

Going through each of these 5 different scenarios, have you noticed a similarity?

With each one, one of the key points is that you should create an emergency survival kit.

Remember that!
The significance of that is very important and no matter what the situation, a survival kit is a key item that you should have at hand in your home!

We’ve gone through 5 of the different natural disasters and what you can do with your friends/family to prepare yourself.

By no means, should you stick to this list ONLY. This is just to get you going.
Do some research and see what else you can do!