The Natural Disaster Resource

Natural disasters can strike at any time, many of them without warning, so being prepared ahead of time is the way individuals and governments can save lives and protect property. Because the potential for natural disasters is spread around the world, emergency preparedness is important to everyone. The Internet makes it possible to find easily accessible resources about all types of disaster preparedness. State, county and local governments and organizations offer their constituents information on preparing for disasters that might affect them directly, while the federal government and national organizations address emergency preparedness for the country as a whole. International organizations, like the World Health Organization, offer information about events that have the potential for worldwide significance. Online resources make it possible to get the vital information needed to prepare for these natural disasters that can't be controlled.

Fire

Wildfire Protection: The National Interagency Fire Center offers tips on protecting homes from wildfires.
Community Protection: The Firewise Communities program website makes available several interactive modules on wildfire preparedness and protecting homes and property.
Wildfire Preparedness: This Travis County, Texas, site includes a wildfire preparedness check list and ten steps to prepare for a wildfire.
Fire Prevention Tips: Ideas for protecting home and family from fire is the focus of this page from the Home Safety Council.
Fire Safety: From making an escape plan to what to do after a fire, this site has lots of resources and news.
Fire Prevention: The National Fire Protection Association website offers information on a wide range of fire safety and prevention topics.

Volcanic Eruption

Volcano Preparedness: King County, Washington, offers in-depth information on volcano preparedness and response.
Volcanic Emergencies: The United States Geological Survey Volcano Hazards Program makes available information on preparing for volcano emergencies, along with explanations of volcanic hazards like lahars, lava flows and volcanic landslides.
Volcanic Eruptions: New Zealand's Institute of Geological and Nuclear Science offers information about what to do in the event of a volcanic eruption.
Volcano & Landslide Preparedness: The site includes downloadable information on getting ready for volcanoes and landslides.

Avalanche

Avalanche Awareness: Avalanche safety and preparedness information from New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is available here.
Backcountry Avalanche Safety: The resources offered by the National Ski Patrol include "what you need to know before you go, once you're there and general rules of the road."
Avalanche Safety: To access an interactive avalanche safety course, click Online Tutorial at the bottom center of this Avalanche.org homepage.

Tsunami

About Tsunamis: The California Geological Survey offers lots of information about tsunamis and how to get ready for one.
Tsunami Hazards: This site presents and introduction to tsunamis and what happens if a tsunami strikes.
Tsunamis: The State of Oregon has this page about staying safe in the event a tsunami strikes, along with list of facts about tsunamis.
Designing for Tsunamis: This is a downloadable PDF of the Seven Principles for Planning and Designing for Tsunami Hazards report.

Earthquake

How to Survive an Earthquake: Public Awareness at the Center for Earthquake Research and Information at the University of Memphis supports this page about earthquake preparedness.
Earthquake Survival: Twelve Steps to Earthquake Survival is information that Rancho Palos Verdes, California, makes available to its residents, but the tips apply to earthquake readiness in general.
Prepare for an Earthquake: The Dare to Prepare earthquake readiness website offers in-depth information about securing buildings and belongings, along with seven steps to safety in case of an earthquake and the downloadable Putting Down Roots handbook.

Landslide

About Landslides: Easy to digest information about landslides is available on this California county emergency services site.
Landslides: This website offers lots of information about landslides, including warning signs, prevention and getting help.
Landslide Preparation: This landslide page is part of disasters and emergency preparedness information from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Landslide Hazards: The Homeowner's Guide to Landslides is just one of the many landslide resources offered by the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries.
Landslide Guides: This site makes available several guides to landslides like Landslides 101 and Landslide Hazards.
Landslides-Mudslides: The Arizona Emergency Information Network offers concise tips on learning about and preparing for these natural disasters.

Flooding

Flood Preparation & Recovery: FloodSmart.gov makes available extensive information on what to do before, during and after a flood.
Flood Preparedness IQ: This is a page to check your knowledge of flood preparedness.
Flood Recovery Facts: Kansas State University Research and Extension offers downloadable fact sheets on flood recovery.
Flood Preparedness: This county public safety website includes a long list of flood preparedness and safety tips, including flash flood information in a nutshell.

Hurricane

Be Prepared: This website is all about hurricane preparedness, with links to lots of information.
Hurricane Preparedness Kit: The State of Massachusetts offers this website with extensive information about hurricanes and how to prepare for them.
Hurricane Health & Safety: How to prepare for the health and safety of families is a site about hurricane preparedness from the State of South Carolina.
Hurricane Information: The Environmental Protection Agency gives tips about hurricanes related to food and water safety along with other environmental issues.
Emergency Preparedness: This hurricane information page is part of the Official Portal of Texas.

Tornado

Tornado Preparedness: North Carolina State University supports the page of information about tornado readiness, response and recovery.
Be Prepared: Information on tornado preparedness and response strategies for families is available from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension.
Make a Plan: Signs, watches, warnings are all addressed on this tornado preparedness web page from the Virginia Emergency Management.
Prepare for a Tornado: This Pennsylvania county website offers detailed suggestions for tornado preparedness.

Cyclone

Surviving Cyclones: The Australia Bureau of Meteorology presents preparation and safety procedures for cyclone season.
Cyclones: Preparing for cyclones in seven languages is available here from Queensland Government Emergency Management.
Cyclone Preparedness: This website offers personal cyclone preparedness and safety procedures for before during and after a storm.

Storm Surge

Surge Safety: NOAA offers these tips on storm surge safety and preparedness.
Preparation & Mitigation: This site offers information on preparing for and mitigating the effects of hurricane storm surges.
Storm Surge Safety Actions: The City of Lewes, Delaware, has this list of actions to take and plans to make in case of a storm surge.

Lahar

About Lahars: Site about the dangers of lahars in the areas around Mt. Rainier, including information about what the public can do to be prepared.
Lahar Threat Response: Extensive information about lahars, the treat response and mitigation from the Government of New Zealand.
Lahar Preparedness: Preparedness information is available on this page by scrolling down the page to Volcanos and Lahars and clicking on the word lahar.
Lahar Hazards: Information about volcano hazards and preparedness, including lahars, from the Pacific Disaster Center.

Drought

Drought Mitigation: The National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln offers an overview of drought and planning for, monitoring and mitigating it.
Drought Preparedness: This website is devoted to natural hazard information, including drought preparedness and offers tips for city dwellers and farmers.
Drought Facts: A site all about drought that presents an in-depth definition, impacts, characteristics and mitigation of this natural disaster.

Typhoon

Typhoon Information: Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan, makes available this fact sheet on typhoon and typhoon preparedness.
Typhoon Preparedness: Downloadable information about disaster readiness for Taiwan, including details on how to prepare for a typhoon.
Emergency Plans: Disaster preparedness page from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands offers a section on typhoons.
Typhoon Tips: How to be prepared for a typhoon is part of the information available from the Embassy of the United States, Japan.

Diseases

Emergency Preparedness: This homepage for the Centers for Disease Control links to information on specific types of emergencies, including diseases.
Global Alert & Response: Extensive information on disease outbreak preparedness is available on the World Health Organization website.
Influenza: Information about influenza preparedness and response is offered at FLU.gov.
Preparedness Planning: The Department of Homeland Security has put together extensive information for home health care provider disaster preparedness.
Health Preparedness: The Harvard School of Public Health offers this current information about preparing for public health emergencies.
Infectious Disease: This website makes available in-depth information about infectious disease and public health preparedness.
Public Health Preparedness: The Center for Public Health Preparedness at the University of Pittsburgh supports this website that includes resources for dealing with public health issues and news about current disease outbreaks.
Public Health Emergency Preparedness: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality devotes this section of its website to tools and resources for public health emergency preparedness.

General Natural Disaster Resources

Preparedness Fast Facts: The American Red Cross offers easily accessible, downloadable information on a wide range of disaster preparedness topics.
Prepare for a Disaster: Resources on emergency preparation and planning are available on the FEMA website.
Be Informed: Ready America is the program for promoting emergency preparation and planning. Their website offers organized, concise yet in-depth information about a long list of the natural disasters and threats to the United States. Local and state emergency information is accessible through a clickable map.
Disaster Safety: This website from the Institute for Business & Home Safety is devoted to disaster preparedness, including earthquakes, weather-related disasters, wildfire and more.
Culturally Diverse Resources: The National Resource Center on Advancing Emergency Preparedness for Culturally Diverse Communities has online resources that can be searched by state, community, language, organization or target audience.
Personal & Family Preparedness: Prepare Your Home, Prepare in a Year and Pet Preparedness are all covered on this emergency management website.

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