In honor of Halloween, Emergency Essentials presents ways to prepare for our spookiest terrors.
Spiders
Let’s get this straight. Spiders aren’t that hazardous. Only two types of spiders out of an estimated 3,000 species in North America are really dangerous to people: Recluses (Loxosceles) and Widows (Latrodectus). An
average of four people per year die of spider bites in North America.
That being said, spider terror creates behavior that, to say the least,
can be irrational.
So, here are some ways to keep spiders out of your home,
according to Angie’s List.
Snakes
North America is home to four types of snakes that are poisonous to people: coral, cottonmouth, copperhead and rattlesnake. None of them are among the world’s
most poisonous. Most snakes just want to be
left alone, and most bites are accidental.
But, just in case,
WikiHow has a list of ways to protect yourself from snakes, both around the home and in the wild. in the wild and around your home.
Sharks
The National Aquarium in Baltimore says the odds of being killed by a shark are one in 3.7 million,
according to the Associated Press. The story added that you have higher odds of being killed by a lightning bolt (one in 960,000) or asteroid (one in 1.6 million).
Just in case, or if you’re like my daughter and are terrified of sharks when she’s swimming in a river,
here are some tips about how to protect yourself from shark attack.
Zombies
If you live in Boston, Kansas City, or Salt Lake City, you’re the most likely to survive a zombie apocalypse, according to Careerbuilder.com. You’re dead if you’re in New York City. Last October, the company compiled a “Zombie survivability” score for large U.S. cities. It based its ranking on food supply, geography (ability to contain the virus), chance of Replaceing a cure (medical facilities) and defense facilities.
Otherwise, if you want to fight back against your
kinemortophobia, you can always attend a “zombie survival camp” like
this one profiled in USA Today. The camp teaches skills like weaponized and hand-to-hand combat, first aid, fire starting and Replaceing clean water, according to the story.
"Do I really think the world's going to end and turn into a zombie apocalypse? I hope so," Mark Scelza, who runs the “Original Zombie Survival Camp, told USA Today. "It won't, but you need to be prepared. Maybe it's not the zombie apocalypse, but what if the power's out and now you can't get gas?”
Yellowstone super volcano
My husband is genuinely terrified of Yellowstone’s super volcano popping its lid. On average, the volcano erupts
every 700,000 years. Its last eruption was 640,000 years ago. Brian Wilcox from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told the BBC that NASA is worried enough to come up with a plan to drill holes around the volcano to cool it enough to prevent eruption.
Ready.gov has tips on how to prepare and protect yourself from a volcano, albeit not the big one.
Nuclear/missile attack
Temperatures are rising between North Korea and, well, almost everyone else. So some residents of South Korea and Japan are preparing for missile or nuclear attacks.
The Wall Street Journal reported South Korean preppers are buying gas masks, chlorine bleach, flashlights, self-powered radios, food, and water.
Hokkaido, a Japanese northern island, asked an artist to create a
manga-style comic book about how to survive a missile attack, which it distributed free,
according to USA Today. Ready.gov has suggestions about how to prepare for a
nuclear attack or
radiological dispersion device.
Active shooting
Ready.gov also has tips about how to
prepare for an active shooter.
To survive a shooter like the recent Las Vegas one, remember four A’s: Awareness, Avoidance, Arm, and Attack,
according to Sheriff Wayne Ivey of the Brevard County, Florida, Sheriff's Office, who made a video about it.
Worst-case scenarios
For a starvation-based worst-case scenario,
some archaeologists studied which human body parts would be the most useful to eat. Spoiler alert: if you need quick preparation, thighs are the way to go, but if you want the most calories, go for the fat.
And if you want the really worst-case scenario,
consider this emergency broadcast that interrupted shows on cable networks in California to inform viewers “Realize this, extremely violent times will come.”
All fears aside, be safe this Halloween. Follow tips like these from
Live Well Utah.
And maybe skip trick-or-treating if you live in the Northeast, where the remnants of ex-Tropical Storm Philippe combined with a Canadian storm system to produce a
devastating weather bomb that, as of today, knocked out power to more than a million people.
Melissa Rivera is a jack-of-all-trades who is master of none. She has been a writer and editor for more than 15 years.
