1.  I will be focusing on my hometown of Tyrone, Pennsylvania for this assignment. Tyrone is located in central PA in Blair County right off of the Little Juniata River. The Nathan World map shows the natural disasters that my area is most prone to. Such disasters include: heavy rainfall, hurricanes, and rising sea levels. Being that I live so close to a river, I am constantly updated on our potentials of floods. Usually the river rises exponentially in the spring with the showers that normally come with that time of year, and the water level then lowers during the summer months. This particular map was not very well suited for this task. The map appeared very washed out and it was difficult to observe as it did not zoom in very well.
2.  The disaster I chose to focus on was the volcano eruption that occurred on March 31, 2016 in the State of Puebla, Mexico. The Popocatepetl Volcano erupted did not destroy cities; however, there were amounts of ash that came from the volcano, so the full spectrum of damage is unknown. This type of natural disaster cannot happen in Tyrone, PA as there are no volcanoes near central Pennsylvania. If an eruption were to ever happen in my small town, our residents would have little to no knowledge as to how to handle the situation. We would be more terrified than making progress on getting out of that location. If this particular eruption were to happen in Tyrone, I feel that we would be able to manage it as there was minor damage done with only ash coming from the volcano. I know that the local high school practices tornado drills, so adding a volcano eruption drill might reduce the vulnerability of my town to such a disaster,
3.  During my research, Tyrone has had no volcano eruptions being that there are no known local volcanoes. There is also a very little chance of there being any earthquakes in this little town. The natural disaster that Tyrone is the most prone to is a tornado, although there have been only 30 tornado occurrences in the area since 1950 (Homefacts 2016). There has not been any recent emergencies with tornado warnings in Tyrone, but there is still a chance for one to strike in the valley. On July 19, 1996, a tornado touched down in Cambria County and proceeded to move southeast for approximately 17 miles. The vortex damaged many mobile homes and farms in five main points. This particular tornado damaged a nearby lake and many crop fields in the area (USA.com).
4. I feel that the local school districts handle vulnerability to natural disasters very well, as I remember doing tornado drills and earthquake drills once every marking period throughout the year. Our schools should practice volcano drills just in case one were to erupt and reach our little town from far away. One thing about these disasters is that you never know when they are going to strike and how much damage they are going to cause. We should educate the community on how to handle themselves in case such events were to occur. I feel that our fire companies and other community organizations should put together some events to spread awareness on what natural disasters can do and how to handle it.

Resources:

• Homefacts (2016). Tornado Information for Tyrone, Pennsylvania. Retrieved from: http://www.homefacts.com/tornadoes/Pennsylvania/Blair-County/Tyrone.html
•  USA.com (2016). Tyrone, PA Natural Disaster and Weather Extremes. Retrieved from: http://www.usa.com/tyrone-pa-natural-disasters-extremes.htm