Earthquakes are among the most devastating natural disasters. What makes it more annihilating is the fact that there is no precise way of predicting when an earthquake may occur. The most effective tactic to minimize the effects of earthquakes in human lives is to make adequate earthquake emergency preparations.
During an earthquake, you will feel the ground shaking or rolling. If the movement of the
Earth's crust is really violent, you might even hear the ground rumbling or roaring. These earthquake characteristics may cause you to panic and eventually jeopardize your chance of survival. While strong and devastating earthquakes seldom happen, even in places located in the Earth's ring of fire, it is imperative that you have an emergency plan so that you and your family can stay safe. Here are a few pointers to remember to keep you prepared for an earthquake.
Practice Makes Safety
The key to being safe during an earthquake is having quick reaction. As soon as the ground shakes violently, you should know what to do as if by instincts. To be able to react fast during earthquakes, you must regularly conduct earthquake drills. This will keep you on your feet when the real thing comes.
Plan Your Home Structure
If you are living in a place that is frequented by earthquakes, you must plan your home in such a way that it will not become your deathbed. Use light materials for your home and provide ample exit ways to run to during emergencies. Collapsing home and building materials commonly cause injuries and deaths during earthquakes; and to avoid this, you must make sure that most of your home structure and appliances are not heavy enough to crush you.
Make sure also that your place has strong doorways or doorframes; as statistically these places are the most likely places that can withstand earthquakes. Fasten tall and heavy fixtures to the wall. And ensure that your cabinets have latches so that whatever they contain will not fall out during an earthquake.
Plan For Everybody
Everybody in your office or home should know your emergency plan for an earthquake. Make sure that everybody understands the procedures to perform whenever the big shaker happens. Coordination is an important survival aspect particularly after the earthquake.
Know Your Place
Knowing where to run and hide for cover during an earthquake may save your life and limbs. Learn the safe spots of your home or office. And practice going to these safe spots so that you can immediately react by going into these places during an actual earthquake.
Also plan a meeting place for your officemates or family where all of you can gather yourselves up after an earthquake.
Delegate Responsibilities
In your office or within your family, assign duties that everybody must perform during earthquakes. Earthquake preparation should never be a one-man job. Your officemates and family members should be made to understand of what to do, especially if you are not with them during an earthquake.
Have Emergency Kits On Standby
Finally, you must have a number of emergency kits ready in the office or at home. These kits must have the bare essentials that can help preserve life during emergencies. From drinking water, food, to first aid materials, your emergency kits will be your lifelines. Make sure that everybody knows where these emergency kits are kept.
There is nothing anyone can do when nature decides to leash out its fury. There is no way to stop it so people should brace for the worse and seek shelter.
In order to minimize the loss of life, most towns and cities have created emergency plans. Sirens are placed in strategic locations to announce a major evacuation; the emergency broadcast system is in place in the event that power and electricity has been cut off as well as stockpiles of food, water and medicine.
Those who live in the coastal communities will usually be battered by hurricanes. This happens between the months of June until November in the Atlantic and from May to November in the northern Pacific Ocean.
When this is first spotted on radar, the forecaster will already inform the public about it. There is no need yet to panic here since the weather conditions may change in the next few hours but if there are no improvements, it is time to activate emergency procedures.
The hurricane may pack winds exceeding more than a 100 miles per hour that can make cars, pieces of metal or wood cause severe damage to the home. Households can board up the windows and doors of the house with hurricane shutters and plywood.
People will rush to the supermarket to stock up on food, water and other essentials. These include candles, batteries for the radio and the flashlight as well as fuel for the generator.
All of these things are necessary especially water to prevent dehydration so every possible container must be used including the bathtub.
The most important which must never be forgotten is a medical kit. This should have bandages and some antibiotics to be able to treat anyone who is ill or injured until the person can be brought out to a medical facility for better treatment.
Should the incoming hurricane be classified as a category 4 or 5, residents are advised to evacuate and seek higher ground. It will be a good idea to travel light so only a few pieces of clothing, food and water must be brought into the vehicle.
The citizens are also advised to drive slowly and avoid panicking since this could cause accidents on the road.
The hurricane will pass within a few hours. This is the only time that people will be able to go out or return to see how much damage was done.
It is only after assessing the damage that towns and cities can say whether the emergency preparedness procedures that were sent in place were effective or not. One indication that it works is if no casualties are reported. This is because a house or even a building can be repaired but the life of an individual can never be replaced.
The people who live in the household can rehearse the emergency preparedness plan to see if some improvements need to be made. This is because time is off the essence in order to be safe in this type of crisis.
Emergency preparedness is key to ensure the survival of everyone present. People who live through this annually know what to do but those who are moving into the community should learn fast to be able to survive the onslaught of the hurricane.
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