On the world map, my town is located at the right middle edge of North America. On the Nathan World Map of Natural Hazards the region where I live is shaded yellow, zone 1, meaning that earthquakes are not that common, which I agree with. New York is considered zone 2 for hailstorms, which surprised me because I have experienced multiple hailstorms before. For winter storms this region is considered zone 3, which is appropriate, based on the amount of severe winter storms I have been in. I am surprised that my town is considered zone 3 for tornadoes because I have never experienced being in a tornado nor have any of my older family members that have been in Oyster Bay, NY longer than me. It is predictable that New York is categorized in zone 1 for wildfires because there is not much unused, dry land that would cause these fires. This map overall was accurate based on the history of natural hazards.

I was interested in a biological hazard in Angola, Africa on February 16^th, 2016 that was last updated March 23th 2016, meaning the disaster is still occurring. This biological hazard is from bacteria and viruses causing fatal disease to humans, known as the yellow fever. This viral disease is caused from mosquitos. Symptoms that occur are fever, chills, nausea, achiness, and loss of appetite. If these symptoms do not go away, liver damage will occur and cause the skin to turn yellow. Whether or not my hometown can experience yellow fever is slim to none. Africa is prone to this biological hazard due to their tropical location and hot weather. When its warm out the misquotes are hunting for humans, whereas New York weather is quite different. Yes, in the summer it gets hot and there are misquotes looking to bite but there are not TOO MANY of them to cause this disease. Also people in Africa are exposed to misquotes all year long whereas the people in New York are only exposed for a few months. Angola Africa has about 21.27 million people and having 1132 people infected is not that many compared to how many people are living In the region, however if this disease infected 1132 people in New York, having a population of 8.4 million, it would cause more damage.   However, knowing that New York has much more advanced prevention techniques, this disease is bound to harm more people in Africa then new york, causing it to affect them more. The vulnerability towards this disease in my hometown varies due to their living situations and money. The people who live in more lavish parts of town would be less likely to be infected because they have the proper protection and resources to prevent and cure the disease. On the other hand, those who are less wealthy are exposed easier maybe due to not getting the right medical attention or not having a secure home to protect them from misquotes. An important factor to avoiding this disease is to be educated about it. My town could improve its vulnerability if they were aware of the danger of mosquitoes and if they were aware of the severity of this disease.

New York experiences a series of natural hazards, some being hurricanes, winter storms, flooding, and earthquakes. It is proven that one natural hazard leads to another. Whenever I experienced a hurricane or even a simple rainstorm, my basement would always flood. This would force us to rip apart the floor and insert a new one. Also during tornadoes, trees would be knocked down and grass would be destroyed. This takes months and sometimes years of recovery and cleaning up.

http://emergencypreparedness.cce.cornell.edu/disasters/Pages/default.aspx

There are a few solutions to avoid natural hazards in my town. For rainstorms and flooding an idea is that people can start raising their houses like people do in more tropical areas such as Florida. This can prevent the need to spend money on redoing whatever part of the house that got destroyed. Another way to reduce natural hazards is beforehand preparation. If the town is warned that a tornado or hurricane or any natural disaster is coming they can prepare for it. This includes activities such as getting gas, getting food, getting water, getting generators, getting flashlights or getting anything necessary for their daily life.