disaster readiness and risk reduction

• Floods are caused by heavy rainfall, melting snow, or dam failure, resulting in the overflow of water onto normally dry land.
• A thunderstorm is a weather condition that produces lightning and thunder, heavy rainfall from cumulonimbus clouds and possibly a tornado.
• Stay away from any building that is still flooded.
• Thunderstorms are violent local atmospheric disturbances accompanied by lightning, thunder, and heavy rain, and often by strong gusts of wind, and sometimes by hail.
• The typical thunderstorm caused by convection occurs when the sun’s warmth has heated a large body of moist air near the ground.
• This air rises and is cooled by expansion, condensing the water vapor present in the air, forming a cumulus cloud.
• If the process continues, the summit of the cumulus cloud often attains a height of 4 miles (6.5km) above the base, and the top spreads out in the shape of an anvil becoming cumulo-nimbus clouds.
• The turbulent air current within the cloud causes a continual breaking up and reuniting of the rain drops, which may form hail, and builds up strong electrical charges that result in lightning.
• As the thunderstorm approaches an area, the gentle flow of warm air feeding the cloud gives way to a strong, chilly gust of wind from the opposite direction, blowing from the base of the cloud.
• Intense rain begins, then gradually diminishes as the thunderstorm passes.
• Night thunderstorms are caused by the cooling of the upper layers of air by radiation; others are caused by approaching cold air masses that advance as a wedge near the ground, forcing the warmer air in its path to rise.
• Thunderstorms occur most frequently in the equatorial zone and seldom in the polar regions.
• Develop a Family Preparedness Plan for severe thunderstorms.
• Severe thunderstorm-specific planning should include learning about your area’s severe thunderstorm risk, discussing how you would know if a thunderstorm may produce a tornado, and discussing how to be warned of an approaching thunderstorm.
• Recommend trimming and removal of dead or rotting trees that could fall and may cause damage or injury.
• Secure outdoor objects that could be blown away and cause damage.
• Secure house doors and windows both from the inside and outside.
• There should be no windows, skylights, or glass doors in a building that could be broken by strong winds or hail, causing damage or injury.
• Family members should continually observe safety measures when they are going outside after a storm.
• Local radio or television stations should be listened to for updated information and instructions after a storm.
• Storm-damaged areas should be avoided after a storm.
• Fallen power lines should be watched out for and reported immediately after a storm.
• Thermometers measure the high and low outdoor temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit and degrees Celsius.
• Barometers measure atmospheric pressure, providing the measurement in millibars.
• Hygrometers measure temperature and humidity using degrees Celsius and degrees Fahrenheit.
• Anemometers measure the direction and speed of wind in miles per hour.
• A wind vane, also called a wind sock, measures the direction of the wind at any given point in time.
• A rain gauge measures the amount of rainfall.
• The standard rain gauge consists of a long, narrow cylinder capable of measuring rainfall up to 8 inches.
• Many rain gauges measure precipitation in millimeters, or to the nearest 100th of an inch.
• Other rain gauges collect the rain and weigh it, later converting this measurement into inches.
• A Campbell Stokes Recorder measures sunshine.
• Flood is the inundation of land areas which are not normally covered by water.
• A flood is usually caused by a temporary rise or the overflowing of a river, stream, or other water course, inundating adjacent lands or flood plains.
• Floods could also be due to a temporary rise of lakes, oceans or reservoirs and/ or other enclosed bodies of water, inundating border lands due to heavy and prolonged rainfall associated with tropical cyclones, monsoons, inter-tropical convergence zones or active low-pressure areas.
• Floods are basically hydrological phenomena and they are also caused by storm surges, and tsunami along coastal areas.
• Ecologists attribute flooding in some regions to the results of human activities like unregulated cutting of trees and urbanization of large areas.
• Advise family members to stay indoors for 30 minutes after hearing the last clap of the thunder.
• Ensure proper drainage for rain water on the whole home site.
• Instruct family members to do the lightning safety position (also known as crouching) and stay away from structures, trees, towers, fences, telephone lines, or power lines if out in the open.