1. After looking at the Nathan World Map of Natural Hazards, I see that my hometown of Blue Bell, PA is affected by a few natural disasters. It could potentially be affected by tropical cyclones, hailstorms, winter storms, and tornadoes. I have seen all of these except tornadoes in my town so I would say that the map identified those correctly. However, the storms are all rare and definitely not a common occurrence. I didn’t like how the map was zoomed out all the way to show the entire Earth because it made it hard to identify what disasters happen where.

2. On the RSOE EDIS I found a biological disaster that is happening in Wisconsin and Michigan that started on March 5th of this year. My hometown along with just about any other town could experience a disaster like this. I’m not sure the likelihood of it happening but I imagine it is pretty low since I have no experience with something like it. The scale of the event is the same scale as my hometown because it isn’t explicitly saying how much of an area is definitely infected. If this were to occur in my hometown, I imagine the same results would occur because my town is small and towns in Wisconsin and Michigan tend to be small as well. The vulnerability of this would be different from person to person and the people who are less hygienic would most likely be infected first. The best way to reduce this vulnerability would be to make sure we wash our hands before and after eating.

3. From my personal experience, my hometown can be affected by snow storms, tropical storms, and hailstorms which is what the Nathan map said. The most common of those would be snow storms that happen almost every winter and they deliver a lot of snow. We also get some flooding from time to time but they’re never significant enough to cause worry. According to usa.com, Blue Bell can also be affected by earthquakes and tornadoes but I have not experienced either of those so it’s not something to worry about. Overall I think it is a pretty safe place to live.

Source: http://www.usa.com/blue-bell-pa-natural-disasters-extremes.htm

4. There’s not a whole lot that can be done to prevent a natural disaster but there are things that can be done to make sure there is less damage. For example, if there is a snow storm, salt could be put down on the roads before it happens which would help with plowing.  For tropical storms and hailstorms there isn’t really anything that can be done besides warning people. The township or county can send out warnings through text, tv, or radio to make sure that everyone is prepared to minimize damage. I could help spread the message to people to make sure everyone knows what is about to happen.