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Preparing for a disaster is essential for surviving one. Preparedness plans, and plans of action must be put in place to not only help prevent a disaster from happening, but also to help mitigate the damage caused when one does occur.
On July 28th, 1976 the city of Tangshan, China was completely destroyed by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake and it is estimated that up to 700,000 people lost their lives in the quake. The Great Tangshan Earthquake struck at approximately 3:42 AM. Though some scientists made attempts to warn of an impending earthquake in the area, the earthquake hit with virtually no warning, and at one of the worst possible times, as most residents were asleep and could not react fast enough to get to safety. Since it is obviously not possible to prevent such an occurrence from happening, it is possible to be better prepared for such events.
The responsibility of creating plans for preparedness and action to disastrous events lies on not only government leaders, but also on local leaders and even members of each household. As we have discovered through past experiences, the key to surviving any disaster or decreasing the amount of damage and destruction it causes, is for people to come together and work as a group.
Overall, there are 5 steps of planning for a disaster. Families should create a plan to prepare members of their household in the event of an emergency, as well as all branches of government and business. Those steps include:
Disasters come when we least expect them. Often times, they will strike with little or no warning. Our experiences with nearly every recorded disaster prove that lack of preparation leads to the greatest loss of life and property damage.