From the Nathan World Map, I found out that Philadelphia is around zone 3 for tornados, which is very high. Philadelphia is also in zone 4 for hailstorms and zone 2 for winter storms. I was surprised to see that Philadelphia was so low on the winter storm map considering the harsh winters over the past few years. I was not that surprised about our tornado rating being so high because during storms, Philadelphia and surrounding counties are usually put in tornado warnings and lose power. The map was a little hard to read considering I was looking for one city on a whole world map. But, I think the map was pretty accurate in averaging the natural hazards over history.

I chose a biological hazard occurring in February in Luanda (the capital city), Angola in Africa. They have an outbreak of yellow fever, which is still going on and spreading to this date. This disease is viral and transmitted by mosquitos. It is unlikely for this outbreak to occur in Philadelphia. This is because we are not in a tropical or subtropical area. We also have ways of preventing viruses like this such as vaccines, insect repellents, protective clothing and housing. We also have better healthcare than towns like these in Africa. We are able to provide medical help and contain this virus if it were to be in our area. In Luanda, there are around 1200 infected. With a population of around 2.7 million people, that is 1 in every 2,250 people. Considering Philadelphia has only 1.5 million people, this would have a larger effect on my city compared to Luanda. This disease would be affecting 1 in every 1,250 people. It still wouldn’t be too widespread, but it would be more people than in Luanda if we didn’t have more ways of prevention than we do. There are many different social classes in Northeast Philadelphia where I live, which means there is a lot of vulnerability to disease. If yellow fever were to spread in my city, people in more urban settings would be affected. They have less money to afford proper protective housing and health benefits. Like a place in north Philly, the houses are packed with large families that do not have the economic status to afford proper housing. Yellow fever would spread in this area because of the close proximity of the houses and the people inside them. A lot of people also use public transit like trains, buses, and subways so it would spread more quickly. It would also affect them because it would be harder for them to afford the proper hospitalization and medicine to prevent the spread of this disease. Because of financial reasons, there are also a lot of uneducated people in this area. This means this specific population would have trouble with educating themselves and others on the disease. To reduce vulnerability, I think the city would have to work together to provide free or low cost care at clinics to the infected people. We would also have to implement educational programs to make the locals aware of the risks of disease. They could also just place flyers or posters in public places like bus stops, subway systems and popular places in town. This way, the infected would be able to get proper health care while the uninfected are becoming more aware of the risks and preventions of diseases.

According to Pennsylvania’s natural hazard readiness awareness website, one of the state’s main issues is thunderstorms and floods. In my area of Philly, we have a lot of flash flood warnings that come along with thunderstorms. Every time it would thunderstorm, my house’s basement would flood. Not only this, but the streets would have debris on it and puddles would make it dangerous to drive. Wind would take down trees and then the trees would take down powerlines. This would cause a lot of trouble considering it was not only dangerous but Philly’s response teams are not that fast to clean up the messes. Our power companies could take up to a week to come out and fix the power. Severe thunderstorms provide serious issues for the city and the environment.

Resource: https://www.ready.gov/pennsylvania

The biggest issue from this besides accidents would be the damages left behind. (ex. Fallen trees, car crashes, etc.) Our response teams could be a lot faster than they are. Our power companies and also the city should make it their priority to get out quick and help restore the city. Our city could be more prepared before the storm. Before it starts, people should run their errands so when the storm hits, they could stay at a safe place like their home. I think it is up to the city to send workers out to fix the damage done by storms. But in order to make the clean-up process more efficient, each individual resident could clean up their own property and maybe their own street. We need to work as a community in order to restore our community after a disaster.