Natural disasters like earthquakes cannot be avoided. However, to some extent, you can protect yourself from being tremendously affected by its drawbacks. The chances of falling prey to such natural disasters increases manifold if you are traveling to a new country which you have no idea about. Therefore, earthquake safety tips for travelers must be on your mind while dealing with such natural disaster-prone areas when traveling from country to country. Given below are a few tips on how to prepare while traveling to an earthquake zone, and save yourself and the ones around you in such situations.
Precautions before leaving:
Always keep in mind to register yourself with the embassy in which you are planning to travel. This will come in handy in case an emergency or natural calamity arises. Make sure you keep them updated about your future trip and your whereabouts in general on the whole of your journey. Also, knowing the basics of dealing with an emergency situation during your vacation, like earthquakes,will save you from trouble if such a situation arises.
You need to keep as much contact with the authorities back in your home country as possible. And this makes one of the most important earthquake safety tips for travelers outside of their country. There are many offices which offer these services – like the UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth office and many other departments related to foreign affairs and trade.
Initial tremors:
Keep contact numbers of the embassy for help in times of emergency. No matter what hotel you choose to move into, get out and find a suitable place to seek shelter in the occurrence of an earthquake. This place needs to be an open ground, away from buildings and trees.
You can also hide under pieces of furniture if you are stuck indoors. However, see to it that you stay away from mirrors and other sharp objects as they may result in breaking and can hurt you badly.
Earthquake safety tips for travelers:
Here are some useful and practical tips to keep yourself safe during an earthquake.
- During an ongoing earthquake, seek shelter in a place that the locals recommended. As mentioned before, the safest places are open grounds or any other place where there is little to no fear of objects falling on you or you being hit by lightning.
- If you feel the tremors while you are fast asleep, get out of your homes as soon as you can, especially if you reside in a high-rise building.
- Always take the stairs in such situations since earthquakes result in power cut-offs which could get you trapped within an elevator, adding to the trouble.
- Stay away from electrical appliances and shut off the main power, if possible.
- If you are driving, tighten your seatbelts and move away from huge buildings and bridges.
On being trapped:
In case you can’t find your way out of debris and are trapped underneath, follow these tips to keep yourself safe during an earthquake to get yourself out without a scratch.
- Never light a lighter or any spark. You never know what gases may be leaking nearby, and it can prove to be fatal if they are inflammable.
- Try not to inhale the dust by tying a cloth over your nose and mouth to filter the air.
- Make as much noise as possible to make your presence felt.
- If you are trapped to such an extent that you can’t figure out top from bottom, let your saliva drip. It will follow gravity and you can then work your way in the opposite direction.
Aftermath of the calamity:
As a tourist, you need to get back to your residence once the tremors have ceased to occur. Make sure you don’t venture out without enough protection. Put on layers of clothes and tough shoes to create a padding in order to prevent yourself from getting hurt.
The usual process, which makes a crucial part of earthquake safety tips for travelers, involves helping out each other in cash and kind to recover from the losses of the earthquake if it was a major one. Later, you can contact the embassy to take you home whenever you feel appropriate.
Conclusion:
Learning the basics of dealing with an emergency situation during your vacation will come in much handier than you can contemplate, especially with earthquakes. Solely surviving an earthquake isn’t always a difficult process. What’s more difficult is to come out of it unscathed. You need to have the basic knowledge of how earthquakes occur,earthquake safety tips for travelers, and how to deal with the aftermath of it in order to keep yourself and the ones around you safe. The importance of this increases multiple folds if you are traveling to an earthquake-prone area as a tourist. Make sure you do your homework well by learning how to prepare while traveling to an earthquake zone and be safe in such times.