DISASTER PREPAREDNESS. It has been of utmost importance now more than ever. With all the severe calamities and disasters that are happening around the world, authorities devise safety measures with the aim of helping people avoid, as much as possible, harm and destruction. Agencies of all sorts are trying their best to inform and prepare the general public about the imminent dangers disasters, whether natural or man-made, will bring. Citing news from various parts of the globe, we can find calamities of horrific magnitude that led to loss of lives, leaving many homeless, and destruction of properties and infrastructures.

There are reports of floods, tornadoes, typhoons, and hurricanes causing widespread devastation. Earthquakes and volcanic explosions cause enormous damage to communities. Wildfires adversely affect the lives of people living nearby. As a matter of fact, lists of catastrophes have been bringing pain, distress, and despair to the lives of multitudes of people. Making things worse, there are man-made tragedies that also plague our society nowadays. Incidents of terrorist attacks, major accidents, and widespread killings abound, not only in places prone to danger and social unrest, but also in places that were once considered peaceful and safe to live in. Deadly diseases, several of which still have no cure, are also terrifying threats to people’s lives. Epidemics break out now and then in different places.

In the face of these perilous circumstances, people are trying their best to be fully prepared, so that in the event that any of these cataclysms hits their places, they may, at the most, be saved from utter destruction.

The most dreadful disaster
As people strive to be ready against disasters that abound in this world, there is yet one catastrophic event that is the worst of all. This is what people should all the more be prepared for. The Bible mentions of a day that the Lord God had appointed to take place:

“Because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained …” (Acts 17:31 New King James Version)

The day being referred to by this biblical pronouncement is none other than Judgment Day. Apostle Peter described how dreadful that day would be in II Peter 3:7, 10:

“But the heavens and the earth which now exist are kept in store, by the same word, reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” (NKJV)

So, if everything will be consumed by fire—“the earth and the works that are in it” and even the “heavens … and the elements will melt with fervent heat”—this only means that this is the worst disaster which is yet to come. If people exhaust every means to prepare for calamities, then all the more they should make the most important preparation for the inevitable day of Judgment.