Know The Advantages Of Disaster Preparedness Kits

By Author: Navin Prakash
Total Articles: 56
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Disaster is an abrupt, catastrophic situation or event which causes serious and irreversible damages that disturb the normal dynamics of society or community and cause man, material, environmental and economic loses that exceed the ability of the entire human kind to deal with it using available resources. There cannot be any perfect system or process that can be prepared to prevent damage, as if such system would be developed, then that particular situation will not be a disaster anymore. A disaster can disrupt the lives of people in a fraction of second and lead to damages that cannot be mended.

Disasters may or may not be totally unforeseen and discrete events. The probability of occurrence, occasion, location and severity of a disastrous event, in some cases, can be realistically and precisely predicted through scientific and technological advances. The comprehensive studies and research on disaster management and preparedness have established that the disasters occur in a definite pattern and thus, their impact can be controlled or reduced, however, the extent of their severity cannot be measured or controlled.

There ...
... are mainly two types of disasters, namely natural and man-made disasters. Natural disasters are uncontrollable natural calamities that occur due to the turbulence in the Earth’s natural processes. These include earthquake, floods, hurricane, tsunamis, etc. Man-made disasters are the adverse events that occur as a consequence of human negligence and irresponsible actions. These actions become the hazardous factors that lead to the occurrence of such events. These include accidents, bomb blasts or explosions, wars, chemical leaks, oil spills, etc.

Disaster preparedness is vital for households, business communities, and societies as the recent disastrous events had instigated that there is a need for understanding the significance of individual responsibility, planning and local coordination among the members of the society for ensuring their preparedness towards responding to and recovering from these uncontrollable events. Therefore, it is a critical aspect with respect to the unpredictable nature of contemporary natural as well as man-made environmental scenarios.

The major significance of disaster preparedness is to effectively implement action plans at different levels, thereby minimizing the number of sufferings and loss of lives as well as property. It is very important to have proper knowledge and preparation for surviving in times of a catastrophe. The advance preparation to deal with emergency situations is the key to survive in the catastrophic events as the emergency services may take some time to reach the location.

On the whole, disaster preparation has its own advantage and must be practiced by all individuals. On a general note, disaster preparedness involves comprehensive efforts that include educating people and making them aware about the possibility of disasters, providing timely warnings, organizing and training people and keeping emergency food stocks and medical kits. Disasters can happen anywhere and anytime, and therefore, it is advised to be prepared for it in advance as it does not provides any time to respond and the help might come after hours or days depending on the situation and access to the place.

One way to cope with disaster when it occurs is to prepare a disaster kit. Disaster supplies kit is just a collection of basic items that are needed for survival by a household during the times of an emergency. The basic items include food items, water, first aid supplies including non prescription drugs, tools and emergency supplies such as flashlights, batteries, etc., clothing, bedding, personal documents, extra cash, house and car keys, etc.

Having a disaster supplies kit prepares people in advance to cope with unruly circumstances. Also in times of such situations, electricity, telephones, gas and water supplies are cut-off for quite a longer duration, so the emergency kits must be capable enough to help one survive during these scarcities.