Fifit

Danny Fifita
December 2, 2015
Geography 1700
Maura Hahnenberger
Personal Reflection

As I reflect on the experience I have gained through this service learning

project, my relationship and views of disaster preparedness as well as the senior
citizens in my community have changed in certain aspects. For instance growing up,
my family has always kept and maintained a food storage as well as our own
personal 72 hour kit. Yet I never really understood the why? I was aware growing up
in the Utah school systems that tornados as well as earthquakes were possible
natural disasters that could strike at any time, any place, and to anyone. During this
project I was in charge of the science research. My responsibility was to learn the
what, the why, and the when about earthquakes, and then inform and teach the
seniors all that I have learned. With this specific responsibility of finding the
scientific research behind the disaster, I feel much more educated and informed
about one of this biggest natural disasters that could occur here in my own city. I
have also had a stronger desire to inform my neighboring senior citizens about the
natural disasters that we as a community face in this part of Salt Lake City.
Before this service project I had a preconceived assumption that the local
seniors in the liberty senior center wouldnt really care yet alone be interested in
learning about natural disasters. I assumed that if any of them were in attendance
to our presentation that, they would be there in body, yet there minds would be
dozing off into other more engaging thoughts. But to my surprise I was shocked to
not only see so many accept or invitation to attend our presentation, but to see so
many participate by asking and answering questions. Even coming up after our
presentation to seek answers to personal concerns they had due to natural disasters
here in Salt Lake City.
Personally before this project, disaster preparedness was never high on my
list of things to worry or be concerned about. When it comes to natural disasters,
its honestly impossible to know exactly when and where it will occur. So even
though its impossible to know when and where it might happen, I have always felt
and found comfort in knowing that individually and with in my family we have
prepared for the worst, which has given me hope for the future.
This project has been a great experience which has really reshaped some of
my views on disaster preparedness. As I have stated previously, growing up in my
family we have always prepared for some type of unknown disaster, but from this

Fifit

project I have come to understand that the better informed me and my family are
on the possible natural disasters that we are likely to encounter, the better
educated we will be in knowing how to prepare best for the unexpected disaster.
Knowledge is power, and this idea of being better educated in order to prepare and
prevent the worst doesnt just end with me and my family. But it begins there, in my
own home, and will have to expand to my neighbors and from there to the
community and so on. Anyone of us could fall victim to a natural disaster, which
instantly relates all of us as inhabitants with a responsibility to not only understand
the natural disasters we fall subject to, but to prepare for them individually and as a
people.