First the party line - prepare for ALL Hazards. Most of the preparation you do can help you in any emergency or disaster that might befall you. In emergency management, we categorize the disasters we prepare for in their simplest form as Frequency vs. Risk because there are things to plan for AFTER all hazard that are specific to a hazard. In short its about learning what hazards may affect you.
For example, the frequency for snow vs. the risk of a snow "storm" in Seattle would be High Frequency/ Low Risk (HF/LR) because we typically (in the last three years) get one to two snow storms per year; but the danger is low (short of falling on your butt).
On the other side is an earthquake (we live in a seismic area) which has a Low Frequency/ High Risk of when it happens (LF/HR).
So what does all this mean? It means that while you should prepare for snow (stay home) you need to pay attention to the LF/HR too. Just because an earthquake hasn't happened for 500 years, and only has a 10%-14% chance in the next 50 years doesn't mean it won’t happen; and it will be worse than a snowstorm.
Just because you did not experience landfall of hurricane the last two years, doesn't mean it won't this year, or next.
For the LF/HR event, you will likely be on your own for a longer period, so you must plan accordingly.
Now look at our area and write down all the hazards you can find out about (hint- check your local emergency management site for information), then do a little research and classify for Frequency & Risk.
Now plan accordingly.
Any questions?
disaster dave
You are so interesting! I do not think I've truly read a single thing like that before. So good to find someone with genuine thoughts on this topic. Really.. thanks for starting this up. This website is something that's needed on the web, someone with a bit of originality!
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Nice Post. Thanks for sharing. Storm Damages are really very devastating natural disaster. It severally harm our surroundings. for storm cleanup Emergency services 24 is a great place which can help you in your tough times.
ReplyDeleteThanks John, of course the focus of this post is being prepared. While clean up services like yours could (because I'm not endorsing you :)), the more prepared folks are, and maybe not living directly in the line of fire, the less recovery will cost in time, tears and dollars.
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