The Effects of Natural Disasters

By Vincent Chan

People everywhere understand that the effects of disasters are formidable. That’s not just pecuniary loss; indeed, an intense natural disaster always involves countless sufferers and casualties. Common natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons, tornados and tsunamis are disasters which human beings have to struggle with. Environmental scientists concentrate on searching for all the data and signs to forecast disasters. Nevertheless, even though nowadays the science and technology have been improving a lot, some disasters are still unpredictable. There are three common effects from natural disasters: the collapse of buildings, pecuniary loss, and human suffering.

An earthquake or a tornado can destroy buildings. Too many people have lost their houses because those disasters happened abruptly. When a place becomes a disaster area, can you imagine what will happen afterwards? Sufferers don’t have houses to live in. They live in some temporary tents and wait for the rescue. Otherwise, rebuilding housing and buildings or even the whole disaster area will give an extremely heavy load to sufferers and the government.

Pecuniary loss is another important effect after a disaster happens. For sufferers and residents in a disaster area, they may struggle with losing their property. It is unbearable. Moreover, the national economics in that country will become a serious problem to deal with. An actual example was the earthquake that happened in Sichuan, China, in 2008. After the earthquake, many people died, roads were blocked by rock slides, no electricity and drinking water, manufactories, schools and other companies all stopped working. Those above-mentioned instances are rationales why disasters would stop the movement of a country.

Nothing can compare with the importance of casualties. While a person is covered up in building fragments but luckily he/she is still alive, there are several disadvantages that he/she is facing. That person may probably face no water, fresh air and food. Moreover, he/she may get severely injured in a building collapse; therefore, his/her life all depends on the rescue team. So now we comprehend that in a vital crisis, the faster the rescue, the higher the living rate.

In conclusion, Nature is just like a wild animal. It doesn’t have humanity. There is no cue to stop disasters from happening. If we can exactly forecast disasters in advance, or people are aware of the intense effect, the casualties from disasters will be declined to a minimum rate. We are not able to struggle with the environment. Anyhow, human lives are fragile. For this reason, knowing how to protect yourself is essential for saving your life.

Effects of Earthquakes on a City

By Yurie Ikegami

When earthquakes occurred in a city, people around the city suffer from a lot of disasters that are effects of earthquakes. For example, we had problems of stopping of traffic, lack of food and water, stopping of supply of energy when Hanshin Awaji Earthquake occurred in Japan. Due to the earthquake, numberless people suffered and died, and it was a terrible memory for Japanese, so we have to recognize what will happen as the effects of earthquakes and know the way to prepare for such a situation. Therefore, I’ll talk about the effects of earthquakes: ruin of traffic, lack of food and water, stopping of supplying of energy.

For the first effect, almost all of the traffic in the city that is influenced by the earthquake will stop. People can’t use cars and buses because the roads and highways will be broken. Trains will be stopped because the supply of electricity will be stopped. Because of the same reason, we also can’t use planes. All of them are because of the shock of the earthquake. If all transportation is stopped, we can’t go to work, school, and see our family and friends who are worrying about our safety. Therefore, we have to remember we can’t use any transportation when an earthquake occurs around our city.

For the second effect, people will lack food and water that they need. As I mentioned for the first effect, traffic and transportation will be stopped because of the shock of the earthquake, so the city will be isolated from any other cities around it. People can’t order any food from other cities. In other words, they will not have the way to carry food from other places. People will also lack water. The water department will not work when an earthquake occurs because we will have no electricity. Water pipes might be broken. People will be forced to save water as much as they can. However, even if people save a lot of water, they will lack water to live. If people lack food and water, they will suffer from starvation. Therefore, we should know that we will lack food and water when we face a big earthquake.

For the third reason, earthquakes may cause the stopping of every energy supply. Earthquakes destroy not only the road but also gas pipes under the road. It may be a cause of fire accidents because gas in the air easily catches fire. Earthquakes also make electricity stop because people can’t work when earthquakes occur, so the electricity company doesn’t work. People will lack oil, too. We can’t use any transportation, so oil tractor can’t come to supply oil. When all the oil in the oil container in the city is gone, we will lack oil. If we lack such energy, we won’t able to warm up the room and cook food. Actually, when Hanshin- Awaji earthquake occurred, it was in winter and people suffered from the cold. Therefore, we should know when earthquakes occur, we will lack all kinds of energy.

In conclusion, we can prepare some things for the effects of earthquakes. For example, we can prepare some nonperishable food that we can eat without cooking and lots of bottled water. For the other idea, we can have a portable gas ring to cook without the supply of gas or electricity. We can also prepare a few tanks of kerosene to avoid suffering from cold. You can think of your own idea to save yourself when earthquakes occur. For thinking how to save yourself from these problems, you should remember that we have problems of the stopping of traffic, lack of food and water, stopping of supply of energy as the effects of earthquakes.

The Effects of Climate on Lifestyle

By Sanae Fukuda

Today is 13° C in Tokyo. When I lived in Tokyo, I thought that it’s cold today, so I protect against cold goodly such as I worn many clothes, a mitten and a hat. However, today is -20° C in Fort St. John. This temperature is the coldest I had ever experienced, so I’m scared of this temperature. This temperature gives me many experiences. These also are not only good things, but also bad things. There are both bad and good effects of cold weather on our life style.

One is cold temperature gives me bad things. First, this temperature makes me lazy. I can’t get up in the morning because outside is still dark even at 8:00 a.m. In the summer, it was bright almost all the time. It was called Night under the midnight sun. I couldn’t sleep early due to that. In the winter, I also don’t want to go to outside. Second, when I first arrived, I hadn’t adjusted to the cold temperature yet, so I can get a cold easily. Therefore, I have to keep my body warmer than when I lived in Tokyo. Third, I have to buy special clothes that I have never worn in Japan. These clothes are expensive, so I have to spend a lot of money or else I will be freeze. Fourth, when I went to grocery stores, I thought that some vegetables are expensive. I think it has a close relation to climate because growing vegetables is very hard in this temperature. Therefore, almost all products are imported from other places. Fifth, the ground is covered with heavy snow. Therefore, transportations effect from snow. Sometimes I used a bus, but I always waited for a bus. When I was waiting for a bus in the outside, I was almost dead. Finally, this temperature destroys our environment because we always have to turn on a heater.

Another is cold temperature gives me good things. However, good things are less than bad things. First, this temperature makes strong body because when I lived in Tokyo, I always felt cold and then I had a cold easily. However, now that I have adjusted to this temperature, I have hardly had a cold since I have been staying in here. Second, I can enjoy with snow such as make a snowman, a snow angel, snow fight and so on. I want to make a house which is made of snow in this year. The best thing is that we can see the northern lights. About 2 weeks ago, I saw the northern lights. It was amazing. I think the northern lights are one of the most beautiful phenomenons of nature.

Today is December 8th. I’m still reacting to Fort St. John’s cold temperature even now. Therefore, I’m worrying about temperatures that will be colder than now. However, after I pass the winter time here, I will get a tough body. When I go back to Japan, I will wear a T-shirt even in winter time because I won’t feel cold.

The Effects of Natural Disasters

By Gayane Ambaryan

Natural disasters, such as an earthquake, hurricane and others can have many unpredictable effects on a society, including economic, structural and even mental. Many people can be killed and lose their property. Many houses, schools and hospitals can collapse and many factories, roads and railways destroy. So there are various possible effects due to natural disasters. This essay is going to describe some of them.

The first effect of a natural disaster is economical. Earthquakes, hurricanes and other disasters strike suddenly and lead to loss of property and businesses and that can have severe long-term economic consequences. Thousands of people lose their financial resources and jobs which significantly slows down economic growth. Usually, rebuilding an economy that has been destroyed by a natural disaster takes a lot of time, resources and international financial assistance. It takes more money and time than originally expected. In some cases, especially in countries with an already poor economy, it can take more than ten years to get the economy back on track.

The next effect of a natural disaster is mental. Because disasters always happen unexpectedly, people lose not only their homes and jobs, but first of all they lose their relatives and that leaves them with psychological trauma. Emotional pain is usually hidden at the outset, but it often lingers, to emerge long after. People usually make adjustments, but for some of them it will never be the same. They will never again have what they had. Even those who try hard to put the disaster in the past and forget about it don’t usually live in quite the same way. They usually live with emotional scars the rest of their lives.

In conclusion, any kind of natural disasters can be really tremendous. They mostly occur suddenly, and people usually aren’t expecting them. Large numbers of people can become homeless and unemployed, and they can lose everything that they had. The natural disasters can have many other effects but we highlight only the two most significant ones: economical and mental. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, forest fires, and tornados are happening more often than ever before, and have great effects on our life.