1. In my home town of Kennett Square, PA there doesn’t seem to be many natural hazards according to the Nathan World Map of Natural Hazards. From zooming into the map I learned of two natural hazards potentially facing my town. The first is a Zone 4 tropical cyclone located just off the coast. The second possible hazard is an increase in heavy rain. When reading the map, it was very difficult to differentiate all the states from each other and even harder to decipher whether or not the hazards directly affect Kennett Square. In my opinion the Nathan Map is a somewhat poor tool to use for this task due to the lack of detail and difficulty of reading.
2. For my disaster, I chose a tornado located in the state of Alabama. This type of disaster could potentially occur in Kennett Square. According to the Nathan Map, my town is located in Zone 2 for tornado frequency. This implies that though there is a low risk of receiving a tornado, Kennett Square is still vulnerable to one. The scale of the disaster is small for my hometown, which is similar to the area for which it is occurred in Alabama. The storm is said to have only left a medium amount of damage, so the impact of the disaster would most likely be unchanged if it occurred in Kennett Square. Since my hometown consists of densely populated communities and less dense populated farm areas, depending on where the tornado would determine people’s vulnerability. The people living in the more open farm areas are much less vulnerable than those located in the dense towns, which would lead to a disproportionate impact if a disaster were to occur. In order to reduce the town’s vulnerability to the disaster it would be projection. With advanced notice, people can be more prepared for the disaster and possibly leave areas for which the disaster could directly affect.
3. After living in Kennett Square for seven years, I have learned that the town experiences a large amount of rainfall and frequent high winds. From 1950 to 2010, Kennett Square has experienced over 949 floods and 2,577 thunderstorm winds (Kennett). This information correctly depicts the large amount of rainfall we receive each year. The town’s tornado index is #128, which based off algorithms describing the tornado levels in the region (Kennett). This high index indicated that Kennett Square has a higher chance experiencing a tornado. I personally have never experienced a tornado while living in this town, so it surprises me that the index number is so high.
4. As mentioned earlier I believe that early projections of possible natural hazards would benefit Kennett Square. If a heavy rainstorm in coming and there is a possibility of flooding, then it’s important to stock up on food and water. Since the flooding affects all the major roads, having advanced notice would allow people to stock up before it’s too late. The best people to perform these actions would be the natural scientists who study these disasters first hand. They have the potential of predicting possible future disasters and alerting the community. A task I can do to reduce vulnerability to disaster is spreading the word to make sure others know about potential disaster. Another task I could preform is sharing my resources with those who may not have enough.

Resource List:

“Kennett Square, PA Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes.” – USA.com™.

Accessed April 01, 2016. http://www.usa.com/kennett-square-pa-natural

disasters-extremes.htm.