Natural disasters

[Alpha]

A few of you have noted on my page about a recent (morning of September 4) earthquake in the southern New Zealand city of Christchurch. It was 7.1 on the Richter scale (0.1 larger than Haiti), but somehow no lives were lost. The recovery and rebuilding is underway, and we declined US military and UN support, as those resources would be better utilised elsewhere. Here is a picture from Christchurch:

It has a number of people thinking about how they could be more prepared for a disaster, especially an earthquake. My own city is incredibly vulnerable to an earthquake. Any building decision in some measure has to incorporate that hazard, and we are constantly reminded to be prepared. I've memorised the requirements they say people need: enough food and water for three days (3l per person per day), and so on, after hearing it so frequently.

But strangely I'm not worried too much. Natural disasters, to me, 'don't happen here'. That seems like a silly reaction, especially given recent events, but it's honest. That's not to say I'm not prepared. My family has put together a survival kit, with a great deal of water, a tent, blankets, medication, a gas cooker, food, and so on. My girlfriend and I have even arranged a meeting place, in the event of a natural disaster, to try and reach for some time each day subsequent to an event, until we have met up -- i.e., we will try to be at place x for y hours each day, until contact is successful.

But the reality of a natural disaster should strike us all. They happen. They're real. They will affect us. I mean, these next two pictures are pretty ominous for my own livelihood:

I live on a damn plate boundary...


...criss-crossed by numerous, active faultlines.

They say to be prepared for a 7.5 earthquake in Wellington. I'm not sure if it's even possible to be fully prepared for such an earthquake.

So, a few questions for discussion.

Are you concerned about natural disasters in your area? What kind of disaster/s?

Is it possible to ever be fully prepared for a natural disaster? What have you done, or what will you do, to be prepared?

[Unknown Entity]

Are you concerned about natural disasters in your area? What kind of disaster/s?
I live in London. The only "earthquake" I've felt is the tube going past underneath my feet when walking around the city. Apparently we had an earthquake here a few years ago, but it did nothing but knock down a few chimney pots, crack a few windows and set off some car alarms, but that wasn't near me. Flooding is minimal where I am (only flood I've had was caused by a blocked pipe at the end of my street), but worsens the further you go out of Central London. We get a few tornadoes, but most of them are reported over countrysides and oceans. Storms have ripped up nearby trees before, but not in my lifetime.

So I'm not really worried here. Seriously... when I move to California, I'm going to be a worried wreak the whole time. ^^;

Is it possible to ever be fully prepared for a natural disaster? What have you done, or what will you do, to be prepared?
I think you can only be as prepared as you can be. No matter what you do, it'll always be too much or too little, and as long as you have a plan A, B, C, etc for when a disaster strikes, you can't go too wrong. I mean, have you got enough food and water? What do you do when something happens at home? What do you do if something happens when you're not at home? What do you do if communications fail? What do you do if you get trapped somewhere (not necessarily under rubble, but say in a road block for example)?

Natural disasters can turn out differently in hundreds, probably thousands of ways. All you can do is prepare as much as you can so that you're ready to face whatever is coming.

[Furore]

Are you concerned about natural disasters in your area? What kind of disaster/s?

Nope. On the east coast of Australia we can use New Zealand as a natural barrier for tidal waves, there are no major faultlines from what I've heard, no active volcanoes and bushfires don't hit the particular area I'm in, likely as there's fewer areas with decent foliage (all dairy farms, suburbia and other places that don't catch alight as easy as a Eucalyptus infested forest). The only thing people have had here are slight tremors from small to mid-range earthquakes in the distance. Even the Australian drought doesn't really effect this local area that much.

Is it possible to ever be fully prepared for a natural disaster? What have you done, or what will you do, to be prepared?

I think a person could be, but they'd have to spend a ridiculous amount of time over-preparing as anything less might leave a person to be surprised by something bigger than average. Nature can be pretty unpredictable...

[Dodie16]

That's amazing that no lives were lost in the NZ earthquake, especially from one of that magnitude.

As for natural disasters in the area I live, I happen to live in the part of the US known as "Tornado Alley", so as you can probably guess, the natural disasters that threaten us most would be tornadoes. There's a few safety precautions that you can do if there's one detected in the area, but for the most part they can be pretty unpredictable. I guess that's how most natural disasters work though.

When I lived in Oklahoma, we had a storm shelter on the property, so if there was a tornado headed our way, we would all huddle up in there and just wait for it to pass. Now that I'm in Arkansas, the best we have is the basement. It's not as comforting as having an actual storm shelter, but it's better than nothing. We also have some supplies saved up, like flashlights/candles/oil lamps, batteries, blankets, and a radio, but beyond that, there's not really much else prepared in case of an extreme emergency. So far, it's worked out pretty well, but you never really know when it's going to be that one time where you should have planned further... No use really in worrying too much about it though.

[Tiffany]

Are you concerned about natural disasters in your area? What kind of disaster/s?

Not overly. We live on the Canadian Shield, so massive earthquakes aren't really a issue. Although earlier this summer we felt the Earthquake that originated in Quebec... but it was a tremor here. We do get quite a bit of Funnel Clouds that always threaten to turn into a tornado, but that's rare too. There was a massive tornado here 25 years ago, but that was a freak of nature.

Is it possible to ever be fully prepared for a natural disaster? What have you done, or what will you do, to be prepared?

I think if you live in an area that is prone to natural disasters then you'd be pretty silly to not have some sort of preparations in order. Here I have the basics: Flashlight, candles, matches... might put a few bottles of water. Never say never, but the likelihood of it happening are low.

[Jin]

The only real weather related problems we get in Winnipeg are hobos freezing to death in the winter and the occasional flood. Some of the rural areas in Manitoba are subject to the occasional tornado, but I can't remember a time when anything of interest blew into the city.

So all and all, it's pretty safe here in this regard.

[Lily]

I live in Manchester, England, as far as natural disasters are concerned, I'm not worried one bit, the worst we have ever had is some earthquake a couple of years or so ago that just made my house wobble abit - which I must admit, I thought was utterly ace. I think it's just a novelty for us lot, we don't get any natural disaster to that extreme

So to answer the next question. Not prepared in the slightest.

Oh wait, I forgot about the flooding. I live pretty high up though, so again, it's nothing I have even thought/cared about. It's more a case of 'thank **** I don't live there' when the news comes on. I can imagine areas in flood prone areas weren't all that prepared though

Our country seems abit shit when it comes to weather. the slightest bit of sunshine and the hose pipe bans come out, we have heavy snow, the whole country comes to a stand still... last year was appalling. The gritters were just non existent in my area. I dread to think how we would cope with summat huge like a tornado or a mahoosive earthquake

We're abit shit really

[Taco-Calamitous]

Are you concerned about natural disasters in your area? What kind of disaster/s?
Not really. Nothing really happens around here very often. There was a flood a number of years ago that effected my town but not my house (although if it happened again, this house is right next to the river...) Once there was an earthquake that could actually be felt up here... I slept through it. I think there were some tornadoes or twisters or something last year just north of here, and there were warnings about driving north, though I don't think they effected much. Really, the biggest worry here are forest fires and wild animals coming into town, like cougars and such.

Is it possible to ever be fully prepared for a natural disaster? What have you done, or what will you do, to be prepared?
I have never done anything to be prepared for a natural distaster. The concept kind of escapes me, really, mostly because nothing ever happens here, like I said. It would be wise to be prepared, however. I think my parents have a survival kit and a thing of water at all times. That's them, though. Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

[midgetbob]

Are you concerned about natural disasters in your area? What kind of disaster/s?

We have tornadoes on the regular in our area... it's just kinda... there. To the point where I've been driving down the highway and been, "Oh look... that one is pretty small..." and kept on driving.

I was also deployed to Hurricane Katrina relief and got hit square on the chin by Hurricane Rita... it reminded me of a mix between a Tornado and Thunderstorm. All-in-all, I thought it was awesome. Though, extremely dangerous. New Orleans looked like a zombie film, for example, after Hurricane Katrina.

Is it possible to ever be fully prepared for a natural disaster? What have you done, or what will you do, to be prepared?

I haven't put back any supplies. I'm not overly worried about many of the natural disasters that could happen in the Midwest. Now, if I lived places that things could get really messy (any Coast with Hurricanes, or frequent Earthquakes for example) I might go so far as to put some water and MREs somewhere.... and then pray I don't dig through them looking for certain meals before they're needed. Of course, Missouri is 'due for another huge earthquake' sometime soon they keep saying, so... that'll be interesting. Last time it made the Mississippi River flow backwards.

[Polk]

Earthquake and Typhoon can be pretty devastating.

[GypsyElder]

VM To Alpha: I don't like the thought of natural disasters, when I was a freshman in HS I was told we were super past due for a big one since we literally sit on the San Andreas , and since then I've been paranoid whenever we get smaller ones....like it might trigger the big one :s

^

I hate stuff I can't run from, especially since It's something that comes unexpectedly.

[rJ floW]

Am I concerned about a natural disaster?

CHILD PLEASE! Up in canada the biggest disaster is the bloq gaining power or another seperatist movement.

I believe in balance of the universe, those with "prime" estate, aka southern coastlines, have the benefits of weather, land value, and tourism. The cost they bear is natural disasters. Hate to be a prick but New Orleans has done **** all for the world except for partying, and rap. They gained a shitload of tourism and an influx of economic prosperity. They got balanced out. Same with palestine, haiti, thailand.

Quick fact: In southern ontario (canada) disasters are RARE and yet, recently (2 years) there were multiple tornado's in the metropolitan area, and yet a little damage. Everyone is concerned with damage prevention but the same people wont pay for it. It's like the US complaining about the lack of health care but not wanting to pay more taxes and still loving 2 bullshit wars.....its all balance!

So yeah, im not worried about natural disasters, I live in canada. A rare country that doesnt "need" to worry about disasters but is proactive about the cause. We're also taxed on sin's and fat so it all balances out!

EDIT: LOVE the WWF reference btw polk! Hogan kicked their ass in the rumble!

[che]

I believe in balance of the universe, those with "prime" estate, aka southern coastlines, have the benefits of weather, land value, and tourism. The cost they bear is natural disasters. Hate to be a prick but New Orleans has done **** all for the world except for partying, and rap. They gained a shitload of tourism and an influx of economic prosperity. They got balanced out. Same with palestine, haiti, thailand.

You might be on to some sort of higher power with the "balance of the universe" jig, but you also might be an idiot.

Some people are just not in a position to help out others on a large scale. Canada might be one of those places that helps (do they?), but people from Haiti, etc are generally too poor to help out the rest of the world. I'll bet you your ****ing ass there are people there who help each other and other "small" things you don't ****ing see everyday while you sit in Canada playing on your internets telling them they're worthless.

Don't be ignorant.