Natural+Disasters+-+Period+3

Link to our website here: [|You Can't Stop Mother Nature]

Overview
toc [|Natural disasters] are natural hazards that negatively affect people health, the environment, or the economy. Types of natural disasters include tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and volcano eruption. They can ruin entire communities with their destructive force. They are almost completely unpredictable and can spring from nowhere, catching everyone unawares, which is one of the major problems with them. They also take huge amounts of time and effort to recover from.

Economic Damage
Natural disaster can temporarily, or permanently, cripple a communities economy. The cost to recover from a disaster can be in the billions, so when a disaster hits a developing country like Haiti, the effects can be devastating. Also, during the time after a disaster, there are thousands of people without homes. Either they stay and use up the regions resources or move to a different country, where they affect the economy there. Damage costs have skyrocketed over the [|past few years], but casualties have not. 2011 was actually the costliest year in natural disaster history (The).

SURPRISE!
Natural disasters are almost completely random, making them close to impossible to predict, and when you don't know when or what is coming, how do you prepare for it? That's why the surprise aspect of natural disaster can be so harmful. Natural disaster are also completely natural. They can't be caused by humans, so it's impossible to accidentally cause one (Natural). It gives people very little warning, so not many people can evacuate or at least prepare a little bit. Disasters like earthquakes happen instantly with absolutely no warning, but others, such as volcano eruptions can be slightly predicted by scientist.

Specificity
Each type of disaster can cause different types of damage and require different coping techniques, so it can be very hard to keep up with the specifics. Some places only get one type of disaster though, making it a lot easier to prepare, since you know whats coming. A town at the base of a volcano will most likely have evacuation plans and maybe even public awareness lessons for their occupants. Japan is a great example. Since the country is located at the border of four continental plates, earthquakes are very common, so the government holds nation-wide earthquake drills to instruct their citizens on how to deal with an earthquake if one were to strike. This might be why the death toll from natural disasters hasn't gone up much over the last decade (Natural Disasters). This is surprising since the world now has 7 billion people.

Preparation
Because natural disasters can't be predicted, the only real way to prepare for them is to be constantly prepared. A big part of preparation is public awareness. Knowing your towns evacuation routes and what to do during the disaster can make managing a disaster much easier (Home). Other preparations can be made by higher powers. For example, the government could decide to make your towns building earthquake resistant, since your town can't afford it.

Recovery
Because there aren't many ways to prevent damage from natural disaster damage, the only thing to do after a disaster is to immediately begin rebuilding. Organizations like the [|Salvation Army], Red Cross, and the Farm Service Agency give material and financial support to places struck by a disaster (FEMA). Even though these organizations can help greatly, a lot of the effort has to come from the community itself. Volunteering to help is all the difference, since the government can only spare so many workers (FEMA). You can make a difference.