With the recent series of extreme disasters that we’ve been seeing around the world, now is a good time to update your preparedness plan and make sure you have a plan for even those events that aren’t likely to happen. Case in point, the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster that’s still happening in Japan and the “worst case scenario” tornado that hit Joplin, MO.

While some seem to ignore this basic fact, the earth has a history of cycles. Sometimes things are calm and sometimes things are chaotic. To me, it’s fairly obvious that we entered into a chaos period several years ago. The earth and sun go through cycles and these cycles manifest in ways we typically associate with everyday weather and sometimes as disasters: earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. and, of course, climate.

In the past few years, we have seen more major disasters. Ten years ago, having a 9.0+ earthquake was extremely rare. Currently, four of “The Ten Largest Earthquakes Since 1900“ occurred in the past 7 years.  We’re also seeing weather extremes that haven’t appeared since the first half of last century.

Looking at the list above, the four most recent earthquakes on the list above occurred, in reverse chronological order, in 2011, 2010, 2005 and 2004.  The fifth oldest earthquake on this list occurred in 1965. The period from 1966 to 2003 was a calm period, as far as major earthquakes go.

When looking at these patterns, my concern is that it’s not just earthquakes that is changing, but other earth phenomenon, like tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding, drought, etc..  A I write this, two tornadoes have hit Springfield, MA causing many injuries and extensive damage, according to initial reports.

It’s been mentioned in several recent podcasts, but it’s worth mentioning again. You should review your plans or thinking on what’s possible to occur where you live. If you’re not in an earthquake area, you should start thinking of what happens if an earthquake hits your town. If you live in an area that doesn’t normally get tornadoes or hurricanes, perhaps you live in a fringe area, you may want to brush up on what you’re going to do if one suddenly appears.

(Listen to The Preparedness Podcast on any of your favorite audio players.  Find us in iTunes here: Preparedness Podcast iTunes Link or go to PrepCast.info for direct links to the audio files.)

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