- I am from Wyomissing, PA, which is about an hour west of Philadelphia. I am fortunate enough to live in an area where many natural hazards do not happen very frequently. I live in Zone 0 for earthquakes; volcanoes, tsunamis and storm surges, and iceberg drifts are not present in my area; I do not live in an area of high climate impacts. There is a slight risk of tropical cyclones where I live because we are not far from the eastern border of the United States. Where I live, hailstorms are frequent; the map puts us in zone 4 or 5. We are located in zone 2-3 for winter storms, zone 2 for tornados, and zone 1 for wildfires. The Nathan map was helpful, and very interesting to look at, but at times it was hard to decipher which zone my town was in. It would have been easier to look at if I could have zoomed into my state to get a better look.
- The disaster I chose was a volcano eruption in Mexico on March 31st. The volcano affected States of Puebla, Mexico, and Morelos, and residents are being told to avoid the area. Falling ash may affect nearby towns, and people may have to evacuate if it gets worse. The volcano is only 50 miles southeast of Mexico City. My hometown will not experience this type of natural disaster because there are no volcanoes anywhere near where I live. While the event did not affect many people because of its location, it was still very dangerous. The eruption reached a height of 11,482 feet, and the volcano is one of the country’s most active volcanoes. If a volcano erupted in Pennsylvania, I think it would cause a lot more damage than where it did in Mexico. The area around the volcano is Mexico is not too populated, because people are aware that the volcano is active. Pennsylvania is too populate that if a volcano were to just randomly erupt, people would definitely be affected by it. People in Mexico are probably much more educated on volcanoes than people in Pennsylvania because they live near them and need to be aware of the possibility of eruption. In Mexico they are more prepared for volcanoes, as we do not have any volcanoes in Pennsylvania. If a volcano popped out of the ground and erupted, no one in Pennsylvania would be prepared, and they may not even be educated enough on volcanoes to know how to act. The volcano would also cause a lot of damage because of the amount of money that people in Pennsylvania have compare to the amount of money people in Mexico have. People in Mexico also know not to build expensive house or have their valuables near the volcano because they would lose everything as soon as the volcano erupted. If we did not know there was a volcano in Pennsylvania and it suddenly erupted, everyone would lose their valuables. To decrease vulnerability of volcanoes, people near volcanoes need to be educated on the effects of a volcano. They need to be prepared to get up and leave if a volcano is suspected to erupt, and they also need to keep all of their valuables far from the volcano. People in the area need to know the severity of the volcano and how likely it is to erupt. If there was a volcano is Pennsylvania, people would have to live far enough from the volcano as to not be affected. There would also have to be emergency response teams available just in case of eruption.
- I chose to specifically look at hail storms in Pennsylvania because they are one of the most frequent natural hazards that affects my hometown. In May 2014, a hail storm occurred in my hometown, Wyomissing, PA, with hail larger than golf balls. The amount of damage was more severe than other storms that had occurred in the city before, including flooding and heavy snowstorms (Joas, 2014). Vehicles and buildings were damaged, but luckily there were no serious injuries (Joas, 2014). Since Pennsylvania is not usually affected by many natural hazards or sever natural hazards such as tornadoes, tsunamis, great amounts of flooding, or large hurricanes, this storm definitely came as a surprise to the people of my hometown. To say we were unprepared is by far an understatement.
- Joas, J. (2014, May 23). Pennsylvania Insurance Department Works to Help Victims of Hailstorm. Retrieved from http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-berks/Local/pennsylvania-insurance-department-works-to-help-victims-of-hailstorm/26143438.
- While my hometown does not experience many natural hazards, it is definitely important to decrease vulnerability in any ways we can, just to be safe. To decrease vulnerability, people in my hometown should be educated on all natural hazards that could possibly take place there. They should be given information on how to come up with a plan in case of emergency and practice these plans ahead of time. People should also be told to evacuate ahead of time if the hazard may cause a lot of damage. The best way to prepare people for natural hazards is to educate them from a young age in schools and keep them updated through the news and other alerts. If children are taught about any type of hazard when they are young, they will know how to act if it should ever occur. They should be given examples of how to keep themselves safe in all situation. People should also be constantly updated on the news, by radio, and by telephone if a natural hazard is likely to occur in their area. I can prepare my friends and family for natural hazards ahead of time by helping to educate them, and I can also make a plan for my family to follow in case of emergency. I should also have food and water prepared that I have access to in an emergency.
2 thoughts on “Module 8- Vulnerability Reduction”
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Hello Sarah! my name is Alexis here is a link to my bio if you want to take a look at it https://wp.me/p3RCAy-daO
I found your post every intriguing. In my post I also said how people should be educated about natural hazards ahead of time, that way there is more time for people to prepared. My hometown doesn’t get a lot of hailstorms, however we do receive a lot of tornados. For both natural disasters however it is important to stay inside, away from the window and take certain precautions in order to ensure ones safety.
Hello Sarah! My name is Peter Han and am planning on studying mechanical engineering at Penn State. I agree that being prepared for natural disasters is the best way to decrease the amount of damage that they can do as we cannot really stop the natural disasters from happening. Being from Niles, Michigan, I have also experienced many hailstorms but none as severe as the one you talked about. It is very hard to prepare for hailstorms as anything outside is prone to getting damaged when the hail gets that big. However, people could be prepared by staying inside and trying to park their cars in a garage or other parking structure.
Here is a link to my blog: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/04/01/vulnerability-reduction-peter-han/