Disaster!

Disaster!
 * Be thankful for where you live! **
 * Where will disaster strike next?---(Canada is not untouched by natural disasters.) **
 * People in various locations around the globe have faced considerable hardship due to natural forces. When we hear about these events, the death tolls, devastation and people left homeless there is cause for considering our own good fortune to be living where we are.**

The disasters continue to occur throughout the global community and people around the world are join together to offer assistance. We rely on journalists to provide us with inside information about what is happening. Written descriptions must include descriptive vocabulary from all most of our sense to allow the reader to enter the scene.

This is a page for sharing descriptive writing from "inside" disaster areas

Nepal Avalanche Early Saturday morning I awoke to the warm summer sun in my eyes and the sound of dogs barking. There was some sort of forgotten food smoking in the frying pan on our oil stove that smelled fishy and burnt. My husband frantically ran around our one room hut gathering up our two grandsons and their things. I sat up quickly feeling alarmed. The radio blared warning residents to evacuate the village of Langtang. I felt a tremor under my feet that took down multiple shabby huts outside my window. It shook my bones and I could tell it shook my husbands as I watched him grab onto a chair for support. I felt a wave of gratitude remembering that we lived on the outskirts far away from the mountain. He sent the boys running away from the village yelling after them that we would catch up later. He wanted to sound firm and confident but his voice shook. Terrified I rigidly jumped out of my bed, although my arthritis tried to stop me. I grabbed my cane and my husband and I began to run. The boys were already just out of sight, and I knew we wouldn't catch up. That's when the largest quake broke out, 7.8 on the Richter scale. I felt as if the Earth was opening up to swallow our village whole. Our knees buckled and we fell to the ground, the tremors shaking us like a snow globe. I could taste the dust that was in the air and heard a rumbling louder than 50 marching bands. I looked towards the East and saw the giant avalanche slide of the mountain and engulf our town. I didn't know what to feel, I think I was too shocked to think or feel anything at that time. I closed my eyes and laid in the dust and debris with my husband for what could have been hours. When I thought all hope was lost I heard something chopping at the air and smelled gasoline. I looked up to see an army helicopter closing in on us.

-Harmony

**__1998 Ice Storm Becomes Severe__** -Garry It all started in Quebec all around from Ottawa to Montreal and in Drummond Ville. A glaze of ice covers Montreal. The forecast predicts that there will be 35 millimeters or more of freezing rain over the night, but Montreal received over 100 millimeters of freezing rain during the storm. The air tasted like frigid ice as I breathed it in. It also tasted like a cold mint after I was out to long. So far there were two deaths from the storm. Several others, who were depending on propane-powered generators to stay warm, suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning. Emergency hydro crews have yet to restore power to 400,000 homes. The freezing rain felt like little metal pins poking my skin, and as it got colder it felt like my skin was getting firmer by the minute. The crews broke off thick layers of ice encasing power lines. They also repair tall electrical pylons that have fallen under the weight of sheaths of ice. These electrical pylons were built to withstand 15 millimeters of freezing rain. Wooden hydro poles cost $3,000 each. There were freezing rains drops for a long period of time, and it looked scary. The power poles looked like they had a good 3 inches of ice on them. Blackouts even occur at emergency shelters, where many find refuge from their cold, dark homes. Quebec's Premier Lucien Bouchard says he and his family may have to leave their blacked-out home in Outré Mont, Quebec tonight for temporary accommodations. The air smelt like ice-cream that froze over. It also smelt like the coldest mint smell ever. As the wind blew it sounded like someone whistling all the time. As the freezing rain hit the ground it sounded like a whole bunch of hail was hitting the ground. On January 7, 1998, hydro-Québec’s emergency crew of 2,000 workers failed to restore much of the electricity grid because they couldn't keep up with the copious freezing rain. The emotions that I felt were miserable and hastily. As it got colder I started to feel frailty and sadness.