UTS

Preventing Flood Damages Start inside Our House

In Jakarta, flood has become the annual scenery in almost entire region. Flood caused over hundred of milliard rupiah in flood damage losses. It was one of the most expensive natural disaster for our country flood damage has occurred not only in our country, but also in other countries and cities all over the world. What is notable is that floods are now happening in places that never used to flood before - the Nile River in Egypt, Venice in Italy, and China. Many experts say that flooding is the consequence of the destruction to our environment, global warming, particularly. To us, what this means is flood damage will continue, until we can save the environment, which will take a long time to do, because you can't reverse global warming overnight or in just a year.It is very important, therefore, that you prepare yourself, your family and your home for natural disasters. Hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, and snowmelt can all cause floods. If you're living in a city that lies across the storm belt, you should take measures to flood-proof your home in order to reduce the flood damage caused by these unavoidable disasters. How does one do this preparation? How do we minimize flood damage when we know that there's no way to avoid it? Can we even mitigate flood damage at all? You won't be able to prevent floods, but there are ways to prepare your home so that flood damage and the consequential expenses of floods can be minimized. Here's how. We'll start inside the house and work our way out. On the next paragraph we can see the preparations.

First, more valuables and possessions to higher locations. Your concern will be to move your household inventory to higher places. Start with the small things, such as your photo albums, legal documents, jewelry, kitchen and dining ware, and your small appliances. Move these to a higher place in your home. Then, move the furniture and major appliances like your refrigerator, the cooking range, that home theater system. If you've got an upper floor, place them there. Otherwise, particularly if you're expecting major flooding to occur in your area, consider renting a storage removal facility. Safeguarding what you currently have from flood damage will be more cost-effective than having to buy new furniture and appliances after the flood.

Second, raise electrical system components. Electrical systems are very sensitive and easily destroyed by water. Have you ever experienced electric shock when touching an electric switch while your hands were damp or wet? That was mild. When electrical systems are submerged in water for long periods of time, a short circuit will predictably happen and the damage may be irreparable. Another danger is that short circuits caused by electrical systems very easily lead to fire. So, Electrical outlets, switches and meters should be at least 1 foot above projected flood levels. This will involve rewiring your electrical system but it will certainly make your house safer, minimize flood damage, and protect your home from fires due to short circuited electricity. Having an undamaged electrical system will also make it easier for you to clean up and do repairs after the flood.

Third, get a sump pump. Usually, the first place in the house to be flooded is the basement. Most basements have a sump pit, which is a hole located in the lowest area of the basement to collect water. The sump pit helps by allowing a way for water in the basement to flow out. Whether or not you have a sump in your basement, having a sump pump, a pump that is used to suck water out, is extremely useful. Make sure you have a sump pump, and also make sure that it's working. The pump is connected to a hose, and water is pumped out of the basement (or the pit), through the hose to an area outside the house where there won't be any danger of it flowing back towards the house. Don't pump the water into the sewer or the floor drain, as it could overload your septic system and damage it.

And the last, put a waterproof coating on your exterior walls. Water has an unavoidable way of damaging things. You may be able to relocate the moveable items, but your walls and flooring are at the mercy of the flood waters. Once damaged, these can be expensive to repair and your house may be unlivable until after the restoration work is done. One way of preventing water from seeping into your home is to place a waterproof veneer on your exterior walls. All openings on your outside walls, including doors, should be sealed to prevent the entry of water. A good way to do this is to add another layer on your exterior walls plus a waterproof membrane between the new veneer and the existing wall. This method is a good preventive measure for low level flooding, but may not work if the water level is high because the higher the water level, the greater the pressure on the waterproofed walls. It is best to consult a licensed civil or structural engineer in order to find out what to do.

Actually, we can’t predict when the disasters come. But we only can minimize and prevent them. In this paragraph we know how we preventing flood damages and what preparation we must prepare to face the flood. So, there aren’t many damages and disadvantageous because of flood.

2 comments

Posted by anis blogs at 01:37

English Task

Global Warming

What is global warming? Global warming is a process to increase body temperature averageatmosphere such as land and sea. We know global warming is serious problem which is world well in developing country and developed country. It can happen by adding more heat-trappinggases, primarily carbon dioxide (CO2), to the atmosphere. The burning of fossil fuel (oil, coal, and natural gas) alone accounts for CO2 emissions from human activities. Global Warming is one of the effect from greenhouse effect. In this paragraph we will discuss some effects of global warming on the environment and for human life.

Global warming can destroy the world because the amount of CO2 being released into the atmosphere was increasing. It caused the ozon layer became to make the holes. It can also make the temperatute hoter. Besides that, global warming can destroy the world with high temperature, it threaten the human life. Because if the ozon layer be lost, there wasn't the ozon layer for saving the world from Ultraviolet Rays (UV Rays). The UV rays is one of the danger threat that can burn human skin.

The other effects for the environment have been already occuring. Such as the changing climate, raising sea levels, retreating glacier and Artic shrinkage.

Finally, to reduce Global Warming effects, we can save our environment "go green". Some of the ways are : Plan the trees in our each house, Reboisation, Use fuel-efficient vehicles, Use renewable energy, Protecting threatened forest and reduce the use of electronic equipments that emit danger gas (CFC), for the examples : AC, Refrigerator etc.

4 comments

Posted by anis blogs at 04:10