Ever since I grew up, I have never experienced any natural disaster personally. Most times I either read about it online or hear from people who were victims.
Where I live is kind of safe, the environment is free from some of the things that could result in natural disasters.
We have a lot of trees that serve as wind breaks, we have less water bodies, and we do not experience a lot of rainfall like in other places. This makes the chances of natural disasters less.
Nevertheless, sometimes, even though the environment is supposed to be safe from those destructive natural occurrences, our activities and carelessness paves way for some of them to occur.
One of the commonest natural disasters is flood, and most times, it is caused by human carelessness. It's annoying how sometimes we see our drainages and other water passages blocked but ignore them.
Sometimes even expecting the government to clear them for us, unfortunately, water is a respecter of no obstacle, if it doesn't find where to follow, it creates another path.
A few years ago, I think about two years back, we experienced unusual rain fall in my place. There was this community in my place, there is a stream that erosion created in the middle of it.
One of those days, rain fell heavily and it overflowed into houses that were around the stream.
A lot of houses collapsed that day, the water took a lot of properties, but the good news is no life was lost.
When we got the news, we were shocked. I went to the scene and I was touched seeing people who once had homes become homeless within a few hours.
Way Out
I know that natural disasters are bound to occur but if we can do something to avoid or reduce the chances of them occurring then I think we shouldn't take that chance for granted.
One of the ways I think a natural disaster like flooding can be avoided is to ensure proper drainage.
As a community, from time to time we can ensure that water channels are free from anything that can prevent water from passing freely and that would also demand that we stop dumping refuses in them
Another way to avoid flooding is to avoid settling close to riverine areas. That kind of settlement is very dangerous. Sometimes rain can fall so heavily that it can overflow, if your house is around that area, you would surely be affected.
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