Are you prepared for a major disaster?

Question

Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires, drought, famine...

All of these are possible. Sometimes they come in multiples. If a disaster strikes where you live are you prepared to cope, survive and prosper?

What's your plan?

I live in South Texas, where our most serious disasters are severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. We have also had some minor earthquakes. Where I live the principle impact of a hurricane would be evacuations of coastal residents on their way inland.

Incidentally we have had to get our roof replaced four times in 20 years. Hail damage.

Answer 1

Probably not....sad but true...I keep my ear tuned to the radio and TV if there seems to be a threat of anything serious, but I am probably like most people....worrying about it a little too late.

Answer 2

No.

Answer 3

build yourself a bombshelter...a hurricane, tornado, earthquake, typhoon, alien invasion proof bomb shelter

Answer 4

Nope, God doesn't give us anything we can't handle!

Answer 5

i am thankful that my country only major disaster worries would be the floods that'll come with the monsoon...but the occassional earthquakes and strong winds that hits our neighbouring countries do tend to effect our country once in awhile...because i have lived in kyoto,japan and in the states when i was younger,my family is used to having a ready packed first-aid kit bag pack at home...at least if anything do happen...we are ready...

Answer 6

I am 60 years old and I have heard of disasters all my life. I can't say there are more of them today. Do you?

But the media loves to tell us how bad things are and how much worse it is going to be. That's because they sell news and we buy news that scare us!

Do you remember Aids? In 1985, the Norwegian newspapers wrote that within four years, half of the Norwegian population would be infected. Do you remember the killer bees in your country? A few weeks ago, the Norwegian media went wild because we have so much snow in the mountains that it would melt at once, causing catastrophal flood in all the rivers. Nothing happened.

Yesterday, they write that the summer will be terribly hot (global warming? The end of the world?) Reading the fine print, it says that the 'experts' think that the average temperature will be 0.5 degrees Celcius above normal?

... What? Half a degree ... maybe? And they make a head title with that? Of course! They sell ... paper!

Yes, we should be worried about a global warming. But we should also be worried about pollution in general and the real question is: Can the earth sustain a population of 6.6 billions and increasing?

Of course, no one dare to ask that question; it is a political sucide.

Answer 7

I live in South Texas as well.

I have insurance on my home and car.  I have some money set aside for emergencies, both in the bank and hidden in several locations throughout the home, in case of an emergency requiring cash.  I also have a handgun and ammo for home defense.

As a rule, I don't worry about earthquakes or hurricanes (although I did buy the handgun after the last influx of evacuated persons).  In the event of a tornado, I would do what we were all taught in school...curl up in a bathtub in a room with no windows.  I don't live in a part of town prone to flooding.  I have smoke detectors and home insurance in case of a fire, and we are also very careful about cooking, using candles, etc, in the home.  It's hard to worry about a drought because I really believe that our country would ration enough water for each of us, even if they had to truck it in.  And famine...for our city it's not really a question of there not being enough food to go around, but of whether we will be able to afford to purchase food as the cost of groceries increases.  I know how to cook on a budget, and I know how to make everything from scratch...even bread and pasta...so as long as I could get flour, eggs and margarine, I would be able to feed my family.

Answer 8

yes, my house is made of concrete reinforced with rebar and I have typhoon shutters on every window.

Answer 9

No, I'm not.

I live in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where a massive blizzard is our greatest threat. (Drought and floods are threats too, but to a far lesser degree.)

My plan is to just do as I'm told. I live in the university dorms, so I do not have to worry about running out of food or utilities, at least in the short term. If something absolutely crazy happens, there are enough of us (and enough of an authority tree) that we can get through it.

Answer 10

well, poured concrete does pretty good against typhoons, fire, floods, heat, cold, sunlight, vandalism, hail, snow (like any would fall here), and the rebar reinforcement should hold up pretty well in an earthquake. the ocean is about 1km away so ready for drought (or we could just bottle the humidity)

Answer 11

Working on it but not there yet--building codes in East Contra Costa, CA have changed dramatically in the past decade, mostly due to the poor condition of levees in this area, satisfactory for agriculture for decades but inadequate for residences.  On Bethel Island, for instance, the Municipal Improvement District and subcontractors for Duc Properties have worked closely on new dams for Delta Coves, which would handle most winters easily and might even stay intact in case a 100-year flood overtops them (which would still leave me in deep enough water to float a blue-water barge, you see, since I currently reside mid-tract).

I'm already working on a list of to-gets and pondering whether a used ocean-grade escape raft should be one of them--the ocean rafts will tolerate rocks to some degree due to their reinforced construction, as blue-water sailors would have to rely on them in case their ship sustains a major hull failure and their Skipper has to order her abandoned.

Answer 12

In the city where I live, we are not even prepared for a heavy rain.

Outcome? We had a heavy rain, which other countries can deal with, but it created a small flood here. Lots of road accidents some fatal. Some homes with less adequate sewers flooded.

The city where I live is not prepared for heavy rains , let alone tornadoes, earthquakes etc. I hope we will never have to face such a thing.

Answer 13

I'm not prepared now but will be working on plan in the near future. We are building a small off-the-grid home and will have solar & wind power and a water catchment & filtration system. We don't plan on drinking the water unless we have no choice. We will use it for watering the garden, etc. I always have an emergency kit on hand with flashlights, batteries, bottled water, canned goods, wipes & hand sanitizer, water purifier kit, ziploc bags, important documents & phone numbers. I don't always do this, but in hurricane season (I'm in Texas, too), I try to keep my car full of gas just in case.