Hi !

This is from Seisho High School in Japan.

Have you ever experienced one?

Do you know about EARTHQUAKES?

If you havent yet, you have been quite lucky so far. Here, in Japan, we have a lot Most of them of earthquakes every year. while.

are small, but we have big ones once in a In a big earthquake, even heavy Buildings themselves furniture, such as cupboards, refrigerators, wardrobes and TV sets, jumps up and down to attack you. Hanshin Earthquake in Japan in 1995. Japanese people have been forced to get ready for earthquakes. We, Seisho High School students, studied about Ways to survive in natural disasters for some years. Here we will show you some of them featuring earthquakes in the form of Questions and Answers. We hope you wont have a big earthquake, but you should be prepared against it. sometimes fall down. Nearly five thousand people were crushed to death in the Great

What should we do before an earthquake?

You have four important things to do: 1. Check where and how your furniture is placed * * * replace heavy furniture on the floor. fix heavy furniture firmly to the wall or floor. and clear as much space as possible for your safety.

In addition, you should also take care of such things as * * * hard things by your bedside they can injure you in bed at night. too many things on the veranda it can be your evacuation route. a vase on the TV the water in the vase will pour and cause a short circuit, then a fire. 2. Check around your house and

* repair the stone ( or concrete block ) wall, the gatepost, roof tiles and so on they can fall on you. * find an evacuation route imagine that utility poles can fall down, river banks break, tunnels break down and so on.

3.

Have family conferences on earthquakes * * shelter, if possible.

and

tell the other members where you will be the name of the evacuation talk about how to contact each other you can expect a terrible earthquake when you, family members, are separated because of business, school or some other reason.

4.

Prepare an emergency bag: a bag or backpack which has necessary goods for your survival in. You can carry it out in an emergency. The list of goods in the bag < necessities > dry biscuits drinking water flashlight ( battery-powered ) candles matches work gloves towels plastic bags tissues canned foods can opener scissors tweezers adhesive bandage slings cotton gauze bandages rope sneakers copies of important documents < additional goods > for your baby powdered milk powdered milk feeding bottle feeding bottle piggyback sling piggyback sling disposable diapers disposable diapers baby food baby food tableware tableware for the nearsighted farsighted for the nearsighted andand farsighted spare contact lens kit spare contact lens kit glasses glasses for the old and sick for the old and sick hearing-aid hearing-aid medicine medicine soft food soft food others others

* The weight of the bag should be less than 15 kg for men. * The bag should be placed near the exit. * You should sometimes check the expiration date of the foods and the freshness of the batteries.

What should we do when we have an earthquake in the house?

The most important thing is to protect yourself, especially your head.

How can we protect ourselves?

You can crawl under the bed, the table, the desk or something like that. Remember to cover your head with a helmet. If you have no helmet at hand, you can use a cushion, a pillow or your hands.

Further Information **************************************** When you use your hands for a helmet, you should hold them slightly above your head. They can be a kind of shock absorber. If you injure them, you wont You should have your palms inside. be able to use your hands after that. **************************************** If you are in the bathroom, you are lucky! Its the safest place in your house. You dont need to worry too much. You open the door and wait until it stops quaking. If you are cooking, you had better keep away from heated pots and pans and kitchen knives. They can be dangerous. If you are in bed, you are unlucky. Its dark and you will be half asleep. Youll get panicked. Anyway, what you It would be have to do first is to protect yourself, especially your head, again.

better to always keep a flashlight and your emergency bag by your bedside. If you have children, you have to take care of them first. them what to do. When they are away from you, just tell

What should we do next?

Open the door and / or the window as soon as possible to secure your way out. An earthquake can distort and destroy your house, and you can be trapped.

Is that all?
No. You should prevent fires! Check the gas cocks and switch off electric The

appliances just when you feel an earthquake or after a big earthquake stops. Even if you have something on fire, you dont need to worry too much. biggest quake can last only one minute or two. things. It takes more than a few minutes for the fire to spread to other A bucketful of water or a fire-extinguisher can put it out.

Further Information ***************************************** on the use of fire-extinguishers 1. Aim at the foot of the flame not at the top. 2. They cant extinguish too big a flame it should be less than three meters. 3. They can work for only a few minutes. *****************************************

Further Information ***************************************** If the heater itself gets fire, shut off the oxygen with a large blanket. If you have nothing like that, you can pour a lot of water on it. *****************************************

When you have to move to an evacuation shelter, you should keep the things below in mind: * * * * * * * to switch off the circuit breaker to leave a message to tell your family members how and where you are to make your things as light as possible the maximum should be one-fifth of your weight to have protective clothes on jacket, sweater, helmet, gloves and so on to walk the traffic will be jammed and you cant drive to keep hold of the hand of your child or your parent to keep away from stone walls, broken electric wires, cliffs and rivers they can be dangerous

Further Information ***************************************** Be sure to have your shoes on when you leave your house sneakers are best. Remember to check that they dont have pieces of broken glass inside. If you get injured on the sole of your foot, you wont be able to walk. *****************************************

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