The Dangers of Natural Disasters and the Means to Survive Them

Every year our Earth is affected by something or the other. Be it storms, global warming, even pollution. But there is one topic that is heard of every year and happening before our very eyes. Natural disasters.

Did you know that all over our Earth, storms are brewing and forming constantly, because they are all forces of nature? Just as these are amazing to witness, unfortunately they almost always cause death and destruction as well. Sometimes you might just be in the wrong place it’s a completely normal evening. Then all of a sudden the lights go out. You can see the ground trembling. Then You finally figure it out when you see a huge funnel like shape spinning towards you. It appears to be coming in the direction of your home and coming at an unstoppable speed. It may be a tornado but it falls in a big category not many people usually think of. Natural disasters. Whether it’s a tsunami, or even a hail storm they all are natural disasters. Just because a storm is caused by nature doesn’t mean it’s a natural disaster. If the disaster it doesn’t cause loss in some way like death or even homes, then it can not be called a natural disaster.

The severity of a natural disaster is measured by lives lost, economic loss( financial loss), and especially the ability for the population to rebuild everything. Not only can these storms be dangerous, but unfortunately they are all forces of nature and cannot be stopped. You just wait until it calms down. n the wrong time. If there is a disaster headed your way then well. All you can do is be prepared.

First group are disasters caused by the movements of the Earth or disturbances in the Earth's crust. Those types of disasters occur with a minimum amount of warning and include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis. They are also extremely hard to predict because they are literally impossible to track and see coming. The second big one is a big one. Weather related disasters. This will include hurricanes, tornadoes, extreme cold weather and even droughts. Every year these weather related disasters have been impacting our Earth in a huge way. In many places around the world droughts have been lowering food supplies, destroying habitats and causing many deaths in places all around the world. The very last main cause is the consequences of weather disasters. Landslides, floods, even mudslides-all weather after effects. Now these can be quite unexpected. Sometimes they occur after a weather related disaster and sometimes they don’t.

Now that you know what a natural disasters damage can do, imagine what it would be like to witness some of the most well known natural disasters on the planet. For instance, the Sri Lanka tsunami of 2004, located beneath India. People believe it to be one of the most dangerous tsunami attacks ever recorded. After taking a U.S geological survey scientists estimated it released the energy equivalent to 23,000 type atomic bombs! That was caused from just one tsunami! Sadly, there were an estimated amount of 1,700 deaths or more. This tsunami was so powerful it traveled over 3,000 miles! In other words this tsunami has not been forgotten.

Tsunamis however are just one of these disasters that have occured in the past. For example, take another natural disaster.The huge volcanic eruption- Mount St Helens. Mount st helens erupted on May 18th 1980. When judging the mountain in terms of economic impact, Mt st helens was the most destructive in U.S history. Sadly more than 200 homes were destroyed, while more than 185 miles of roads and some railways were destroyed. Tons and tons of ash clogged sewage systems, damaged cars and buildings, and even shut down air traffic over northwest. The organization International trade commision estimated damages to be worth 1.1 billion dollars! These disasters are just some of the terrifying and extraordinary events that happen every year.

Since these disasters are all just nature formed, we can’t know exactly when a disaster is going to happen but what we can track the number of disasters that have occured over the years. About two thirds of the increase in natural disasters over the years have been mostly hydro meteorological disasters, or the study of the transfer of energy between the land surface and the lower atmosphere. These disasters include: droughts, tsunamis, hurricanes, typhoons, even floods. In the 1980s there were about 100 of these disasters reported per year, but that number has risen to about 300 a year since 2000. Another organization EM-DAT recorded 6,837 natural disasters worldwide between 1994 and 2013.

Some scientists think that the cause for this is a well known topic. Global warming. Since global warming in increasing the temperatures of the Earth's oceans and atmosphere that could be the leading cause toward more intense storms of all types, including hurricanes. The main tool used to track a storm is a GPS, which can track earthquakes or tornadoes. But how can the GPS really just track a disaster? It can help you find your destination, but what about a raging tornado headed your town? Well here’s the meteorological science behind it. Since the GPS stations are in frequent communication with the orbiting satellites, it allows scientists to calculate the time it takes for the signal from the satellite to reach the ground, therefore that data is used to calculate the moisture levels in the air. But most importantly the most beneficial thing that tracking disasters helps in is that it gives time to evacuate and get to safety. The few seconds that people can get before a storm hits could sIf you happen to know of any disaster heading your way you want to be prepared and ready. In the past people's lives have been saved because they had an extra supply with them in case they got caught in the crossfire.

Here are the essential items you need. You definitely want to have water, (about ¾ of a gallon for each person, more if you happen to get evacuated), food, (some sort of canned food like vegetables or fruits). Next you especially want to have a good shelter (an emergency blanket, sleeping bags, or even a tent). After that you definitely want some medical supply kit, like a first aid kit or another supply of medicines. Last of all if you have time take your cell phone and charger with you because it could be your line to life saving support. It’s important that you have these supplies stocked up somewhere or even more because you never know when a disaster is headed your way. ave lives.