7 Facts About Disasters and Why Disaster Response is Important

We live in a world where natural disasters are unfortunately common occurrences, so it is extremely important to always be prepared for them. Get familiar with what kind of natural disasters (hurricanes, tornadoes, landslides, etc.) affect the region you live in and make yourself aware of different  disaster response  options you have. These services exist to be on-call and offer assistance when you experience an earthquake, house fire, or any other unexpected disaster event. Below are seven facts you should know about disasters.

• In 2012, 905 natural disasters struck worldwide including tornadoes, droughts, earthquakes, hail storms, floods, hurricanes, and wildfires.

• It is important to devise a disaster response plan with the older adults in your life. With Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy, over half the victims of both catastrophes were senior citizens.

• Within one decade, from 2002 to 2012, there has been over $1.7 trillion in damages related to disasters. These disasters have affected approximately 2.9 billion people.

• In 2012 alone, almost 50% of disaster-related fatalities were caused by hydrological events including mass movements and flooding.

• Hurricanes can reach wind speeds of over 160 miles an hour. Often, these hurricanes can unleash 2.4 trillion gallons of rain in a day causing massive flooding and horrendous wind storms.

• Floods are the most common natural disasters. In the United States alone, the President declared that over 90% of natural disasters were flood related.

• Too large of a percentage of homeowners do not have a disaster preparedness plan. A survey conducted showed that 80% of people do not have a home evacuation drill and an additional 60% were not aware of what their town’s evacuation route was.