Emergency!! When do you come across an emergency? A situation posing an immediate threat or a sudden risk to life, environment, assets, possessions, or even health is called an emergency. Emergencies can also stand up in case of a natural disaster. Thus emergencies are conditions which occur at any time and at any place. Though emergency does seem like an uncontrollable moment but it can be easily dealt with. The only things required are patience and presence of mind and off course knowledge of general whereabouts of the surroundings and resources as well. It has a high probability of causing death, danger and destruction. Various types of emergencies:

DANGERS TO ENVIRONMENT

Those emergency situations which directly affect the environment or the surrounding areas instead of livestock or health or personal assets and the creatures of the environment other than the human lives. Like oil spills, excessive waste discharges in water bodies, ground water pollution, forest fires etc. though there is some awareness about the consequences of environmental emergencies however the results show that still an alarming is required to wake up the responsible authorities who are still negligent towards the serious issue. There is need to take a note of issues like animal welfare, marine life protection etc.

Preparing for your Food and Water Needs in an Emergency or Disaster: You never know what will happen.  Disasters can hit us without any warning. It could be a power outage, or a natural disaster such as a hurricane, tornado, and earthquake.  It could be a toxic spill, or the emission of biological warfare fumes.  You could lose your house in a fire.  It is important to plan your food and water needs for any emergency or disaster. Are you prepared?

If you can afford to do so, it would be wise to build yourself an emergency shelter for that time of need. This emergency shelter should be made of solid concrete or steel.  The doors and windows should have an airtight seal around them when closed. In addition, you should add a protective seal over the inside of the windows, in case of possible glass breakage.   It should also contain shelving with doors which will help prevent water damage for dry stored food in the case of flooding or severe weather.  In addition, is better to have these shelves at least three feet off the ground.  This would be in case of a minor flood.

Planning ahead is essential if you live in an area that might possibly either be devastated or isolated by natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis, rock slides, landslides, mudslides, volcanic eruptions,  winter storms, etc.. In such an event you and your family might be running for your lives or might be trapped in your home, you should plan for both eventualities.

Listed below are the twenty essential categories of items everyone should have set aside and ready to either take or use in an emergency. The standard always used for emergency planning like this is a “three-day supply;” if that sounds unreasonable in your particular location or circumstance it would be wise to expand the basic list to meet your needs.

With the world experiencing more natural disasters than ever, it is necessary to develop emergency plans for your household and family.  If you are a pet owner, this also means including your pets in your emergency plans.  Often times, during events such as hurricanes, pet owners leave their pets behind, thinking they will be able to survive on their own.  The truth is however that a domestic pet cannot survive these events on their own.  They will either flee their homes or perish.  Therefore, as a responsible pet owner, you must take action and prepare for your pet as well as your family. 

To get your pet prepared, you can start by making sure your pet’s identification tag is up to date.  Include cell phone numbers or other numbers of places you may flee to during a disaster.  You should always make your pet wear his or her tag.  It could be the only thing that reunites you with your pet if a separation occurs during the disaster.  You should also have an updated photo of your pet that will help you to identify him or her if needed. 

If you have ever experienced a tornado, then you understand that they can come and go faster than most expect.  Tornados are natural disasters that can wreck havoc on entire towns at a time.  Some have even been known to crash across an entire state or two.  Tornados are dangerous events that no one wants to be caught up in.  While it is true that you cannot escape a tornado when it hits, you can be as prepared as possible for a possible tornado.  To do this effectively, you need to prepare a safety plan in advance.

The best way to prepare a safety plan in case of a tornado is for the adults in your home to sit down and develop a plan.  After their plan is devised, they should then hold a family meeting to go over the plan with all members of the family.  This will help even small children get familiar with the plan in case of emergency.  It is a great idea to go over the plan at least twice a year (once at the start of each “tornado season” in your area).  With everyone being on the same track, when you need to utilize your plan, it will likely be very smooth. 

Water is the stuff of life:  without it, nothing can survive.  Approximately 60 percent of our bodies are water, making it the most abundant substance in our bodies. In infants, water makes up about 80 percent of their body, so it becomes crucial that infants have ready access to clean drinking water at all times. 

Nothing drives home the importance of water faster than a large-scale disaster, where fresh clean water becomes more valued and sought after than any precious metal.  After a large-scale disaster, it is common that water supplies may be cut off temporarily or may become undrinkable.  Here is information that everyone should know about finding safe drinking water in the midst of an emergency.

Most of us spend a good deal of our day making plans. We plan in which order we'll do our need-to-do things, to help keep order in our lives. We plan what we're going to say to friends, family members and co-workers, as well as how we will say it. We plan our meals, our routes and make daily schedules, but how many of us have planned for the possibility of an event that may find us separated from our homes or our loved ones or, conversely, an event that makes us and our families virtual prisoners in our homes.

If you haven't planned what to do if a disaster, natural or not, disrupts your life you are far from alone; you are, in fact, in the majority. No one enjoys even considering that a devastating event may hit them or their families and very few of us have planned what to do if it did. If the hurricane seasons of the past few years have taught us anything, they should have taught us that its time to stop procrastinating and start planning.

Do You Know Where to Go in Case of an Evacuation? Many towns will issue an evacuation when there is an impending disaster such as a hurricane.  The evacuations are typically called by the mayor of the city.  If you are expecting a disaster in your area, be sure to pay close attention to any warnings from officials.  They will be linked directly to the weather experts and will give you valuable information about the evacuation.  Listen to the news on your television or radio for information.  When an evacuation is announced, be sure to follow it.  Many times people don’t flee because they have no idea where to go.  Use these tips to help you know what to do if an evacuation is announced for your community.