Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 84

Summary - Essay Example Current activities in the business world make communication skills the utmost vital thing in doing business. Most employees believe that communication skills may boost their value in business which may eventually enhance production. Communication courses may further introduce skills that are beneficial to the individual employee and even for the management (Belohlov, Popp & Porte 53-59). Industries always attempt to achieve the most effective and efficiency in all aspects of communication particularly from people who have graduated with communication skills course. Most firms would therefore strive to recruit employees based on their communication skills since the skills play significant role in determining future success of the company. It is undeniable that businesses have recognized the benefits of communication skills (Belohlov, Popp & Porte 53-59). However, after selection and recruitment, companies do very little to ensure continuous training for their employees. Both learning institutions and businesses should ensure an improvement in communication to avoid communication challenges faced in the current business Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5 Summary - Essay Example Therefore, prejudice should only be redefined for proper regulation and people should not think of totally eradicating prejudice. Prejudice is amongst some of the currently prohibited aspects in the society and especially in the United States. Prejudice is associated with hate speech and has similar magnitude of regards. The general public has expressed its concern against prejudice as well as the hate speech related to race, gender or both. Individuals such as Francis L. Lawrence have been expressed to the stipulations shunning prejudice due to his utterance. Francis L. Lawrence once expressed that blacks were the most disadvantaged and lacked genetic hereditary to merit any higher advantage. Craig Rogers also filed an expensive case about her lesbian professor of psychology for leaving her feeling rapped and also trapped. Learning institutions have formulated strategies to ensure no tolerance to prejudice of any manner ranging from racism to Christian bashing. This has been impleme nted to ensure that the society is favorable to the perceived minorities. By resisting every element of prejudice, it does not depict that the racial aspect does not exist in every individual. Nonetheless intellectual pluralism should be embraced to permit respect of expression of every individual. "Only when racism and other forms of prejudice are expunged," The suppression of prejudice targets the time when there will be a total belief among individuals in the society that there is no difference in human origin, a provision that is even doubted still. The author states that, â€Å"I doubt such a day will ever arrive.† The feeling of segregation is recurrent in human and should be suppressed every time. If a total freedom exists, people will be legitimate in their diverse thoughts such as insanity of the homosexuals, their barrier to reproduction and the doubts they impose on people. Moreover, as the efforts are geared towards doing away with the prejudice it is realized tha t no much achievement are attained and as a result the conditions worsen. Therefore, it would be wise to start thinking and implementing the facets of prejudice at the expense of eliminating them. Prejudice has caused much confusion in the society and bad habits in the society such as homosexuality benefit from the policies and opposing homosexuality is a prejudice to the group. For instance the student arraigned before the senate for hate speech against the homosexuals by outlining that it can be treated by a therapy. In this case it is not easy to determine who is right neither is it necessary but proper direction and modification of prejudice to be useful to the society is critical. According to Rauch, "eradicating prejudice" is so vague a proposition as to be meaningless.† Science is the rationale behind impartiality in alleviating prejudice. In spite of the capability of science to be factual and unbiased, the scientists are equally biased and would engage their biases in reasoning hence influencing the results. Therefore, the rationale posed by science is vulnerable to the least influences beginning by emotions that supersede their love for truth. There is a predominant belief that for a system to attain an unprejudiced condition, individuals responsible for its formulation must be unprejudiced in their life and work. However there is much confusion experiencing by understanding that prejudice led to the discovery of the Auschwitz gas

Marketing Mix Strategy Of The Kenya Tourist Board

Marketing Mix Strategy Of The Kenya Tourist Board The Kenya Tourist Board will develop a good marketing mix strategy to attract target customers from Asian tourism market. The marketing mix will encompass 4Ps analysis that includes tailored tour packages, pricing strategies, well-designed service channels and promotion programs. Kenya is positioned as a unique and attractive holiday destination that people would like to visit. Kenya tourist Board will coordinate with travel agencies, local organizations, airplane companies, and service operators to ensure tourists have an excellent and unforgettable experience when they are visiting Kenya. The Kenya Tourist Board will plan its tour such that tourists obtain satisfactions from all touch points of services. Tourists feedback will be very important for the board to review and adjust its strategies. Kenya is well established as a leading safari destination with unique wildlife attractions in the western market. The Kenya Tourist Board will continue to provide and improve safari tour as its core product to Asian tourism market. Major safari attractions such as the Great Migration, the Big Five and Maasai Mara Reserve namely the new Seventh Wonders of the World will be focused on and promoted to Asian tourists. The Kenya Tourist Board will also plan and design special safari tours targeting at high-income earners who are willing to pay special prices to luxury activities such as balloon safari and game viewing. In recent years, Asian countries are becoming more interested in business opportunities in Africa. As the commercial center for East Africa with good facilities and hotels, Kenya is well positioned to attract MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions). The Kenya Tourist Board will work with business organizations and companies to attract and promote conference and business events to Asian countries. The Kenya Tourist Board will plan beach and resort tour packages targeting mainly to business and family holiday tourists who tend to travel in large group size. The tourists will relax and experience the paradise of Kenya beach and shores. The tourists may choose to lay back and enjoy themselves or go out and explore Kenyas unique coastal culture. British Prince William and Kate Middleton were engaged in Kenya in November 19, 2010. This is a good change for the Kenya Tourist Board to promote and boost Kenya tourism. The engagement has worldwide publicity that will enhance Kenyas profile as a romantic holiday destination. The publicity will continue into year 2011 when the wedding will be held. The Kenya Tourist Board will promote Kenya as a romantic holiday destination to Asian tourism market along with this romance. The Kenya Tourist Board will design pricing strategy carefully because of high-competition in tourism industry from many countries and places. The board will communicate with agencies to make sure that Kenya tour package price is affordable to Asian middle-class tourists. The board will ensure that tour agencies could operate with profit, and at the same time they will not over-charge customers. Since Asian tourism market is new market for Kenya tourism, the Kenya Tourist Board will start with good promotion price to attract more tourists from Asia. Since Kenya is remote country to Asia, information availability to Asian tourists is vital for promoting Kenya tourism in Asia. The Kenya Tourist Board will set up operation offices in major Asian cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, New Delhi, and Tokyo etc. The board will collaborate with Asian local travel agencies to promote Kenya tourism to potential customers. The Kenya Tourist Boards headquarter in Nairobi will serve as main office and coordinate the operations of offices in Asian cities. The Magical Kenya is the official Kenya travel and tourism web site owned by the Kenya Tourist Board. The web pages describe attractions and provide travel guide to tourists in English and other languages including Japanese. The Kenya Tourist Board will translate the web pages into Chinese and Korean so that the board will reach Asian customers more effectively since China and Korean are the leading Internet users in the world. Promotion strategies will be discussed in details in marketing communication strategy section. Marketing Communication Strategy The Kenya Tourist Board will develop and implement marketing communication strategy for Asian tourism market. The marketing communication strategy is to focus on brand development, Internet marketing, partnership, advertisement and promotion. Brand Development In todays competitive and crowed tourism market, it is essential for Kenya to create a strong brand identity to differentiate itself from competitors. The brand image should bring not only physical experience but also emotional feelings in customers mind. Kenya is potentially one of the strongest brands in Africa for its unique African wild life and diverse landscape. However, currently Kenya is not a strong and well-known holiday brand in Asian tourism market. The Kenya Tourist Board will ensure to establish a consistent brand image of Kenya to Asian tourists through different communication channels. Internet Marketing Internet is cost-effective and easy way to reach mass customers. Many tourists especially high-educated and high-income ones search information on the Internet when planning holiday trips. The Kenya Tourist Board will make sure of Internet medias and tools effectively to promote Kenya tourism. The board will translate Magical Kenya web site into Asian languages and keep on improving the web site. The Kenya Tourist Board will sponsor Internet users to set up forums, blogs, twitters and facebooks of Kenya tourisms. Emails and newsletters with Kenya tourism news and information will be sent daily to registered users. The Kenya Tourist Board will encourage tourists to tell their stories of Kenya by giving free gifts or prizes. The Kenya Tourist board will also collect tourists feedback from Internet to improve its services and products. Partnership The marketing communication strategy and plan will not be successful without considering local culture. To conquer communication barrier, the Kenya Tourist Board will establish partnership with local agencies, companies and government organizations. The Kenya Tourist Board will collaborate with Asian government organizations to organize road shows or events like Kenya Week to promote Kenya tourism industry. The Kenya Tourist Board will help local agencies to train local staff to service customers more effectively. Advertisement and Promotions The Kenya Tourist Board will advertise and promote Kenya tourism from all touch points. The Kenya tourism magazines and brochures will be placed in Kenya Airways planes, major Asian airports and travel agencies. The Kenya tourism will be advertised on newspaper, magazine, Google web and TV program. The promotion prices will be offered to customers on Asian holidays such as National day, Chinese New Year etc.

Shakespeares Merchant of Venice and Othello: Shylock vs Iago Essay

The Merchant of Venice and Othello: Shylock vs Iago      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Shakespeare's use of timeless themes make his works relevant to the modern reader.   His two plays "The Merchant of Venice" and "Othello" deal with the seeking of revenge and forbidden love.   In "The Merchant of Venice," Shylock, the main character, is a Jew who loans money and charges interest.   Shylock has an enemy named Antonio who also loans money to people, but without interest.   Iago is a character in "Othello" who has been passed over for a position as Othello's right hand man.   He feels that he deserves the position not the person who received it, Cassio.   Both of these characters want revenge from the people whom they perceive as having done them wrong and will stop at nothing to have their way.   In other words, Shylock and Iago are similar in that they want revenge.   However, there are also many differences in each character that demonstrate that they are in many ways polar opposites.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are many similarities between Iago and Shylock.   One is that they both want revenge from another person.   Shylock wants revenge from Antonio because he has made him look bad in front of the rest of the people of Venice.   Shylock being a moneylender charges interest to the people who borrow money.   On the other hand, Antonio also is a moneylender, but does not charge interest. Iago also wants revenge because he feels that he has been cheated out of a position that he feels he deserves.   The position that he did not get was that of Othello's lieutenant, which was given to Cassio who has knowledge about combat from books.   Iago feels that he has more real experience and that he should have been the one to take that position.   Another similarity is that both charac... ...o does not have to do much to spring his plan into action because everyone believes everything that he says because he is "honest Iago" (1.3.297).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Shylock and Iago are two of the most interesting characters created by Shakespeare.   Their personalities and characteristics make them who they are.   These characters do have some similarities, on the other hand, are different as night and day.   Each one has a different motive for revenge, and also they both go about it in different ways.   Iago will stop at nothing.   Shylock has the reader's sympathy.   Still their desire for revenge ruins them in the end.    Works Cited Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. 1967. Ed. W. Moelwyn Merchant. The New Penguin Shakespeare. London: Penguin Books, 1996. - - -. Othello. 1968. Ed. Kenneth Muir. The New Penguin Shakespeare. London: Penguin Books, 1996.   

Principles of Economics Essay

Lets first start with a question that although is trivial, but will help us understand the answer to this question, a little better. What is economic growth? Economic growth is the increase in the inflow of money within the economy. In other words, it is also the increase in the government’s holding of money. Now, there are a lot of ways an economy can be boosted in order to make the country more efficient. Some people mistake the growth and the stimulation of the economy as the increase in taxes. It is not incorrect to say that the increase in the government’s revenue is highly based on the increase in the tax rate through out the country. This increase in the tax rate is not only on the products of the government-based organizations or factories, but even the private investors and the citizen-owned company’s products have to undergo the same tax rate. This increase in tax-rate, no doubt increases the government tax revenue, making them more capable of spending and investing more on the country’s infrastructure and to work on the areas that might boost the economy. But there is something very important that happens while they are at the point of increasing the tax rates. They overlook the fact that the increase in the tax rate reduces the consumer investments. This reduction in the consumer investments decreases the demand of the products. By this I mean that their purchasing power is decreased, not directly, that is their salary is not decreased, but the prices are increased due to the increase in the tax rates. This reduction in the consumer demand then allows the economic growth to go in the negative direction. This is just one approach that most people have about the economy. Some people mistake the economic growth’s key factor to be consumption. Well, they are highly incorrect. The economic growth of any country is not dependent upon how many products and goods have been consumed in the market. But, instead it is dependent on the production of those goods and services. It is the production that helps the economic growth. The manufacturing of the cars on the streets is not something made by nature and given to us to use. Instead it is the workings of both, the businesses and the individuals that is the production and then the consumption of the manufactured cars to make the transportation system of the country more efficient. Hence, by this we can conclude that, the economic growth of a country is not the consumption, but the result of the production that increases the consumption of the goods in the economy, thereby increasing the demand of the products and hence, boosting the economy. This misperception that has been described above is what is wrong in the economy. The Bush administration focuses more on the consumption landing it in spending deficit of over $ 100 billion. Although this can be looked over from a different perspective, for example, we talk about an unemployed man who spends and buys his household necessities by using credit cards. This does not allow the spending to increase, because the consumers are using their credit cards and not a liquid asset (money). The Bush administration as mentioned above focuses more on the consumption and not the spending, this in turn reduces the budget that is allocated for the production, if the government is interested more in how much is consumed in the market. Although this is the wrong approach, but is still being followed in the country. The production has been slowed and so has the consumption in the economy. Until and unless there is not enough production, there is no way that the consumption can increase. Sacks, 2001) Well, just like any other problem, there is a solution to this problem too. The government does not restrict the production directly by stopping the factories to produce more, instead, the raise in the taxes increases the prices of the raw materials, hence increases the prices of the raw materials, increases the prices of the goods. The then increased pric es of the goods reduces the purchasing power of the consumers, thereby reducing consumption. The increase in taxes is one way of how the production is reduced. The government needs to decrease the number of restrictions on the private / public owned organizations and liberate them. (Giplin, 1987) The private sectors not only have to go through these restrictions what to produce when, but they also have a lot of trade restrictions. For example, if a computer Software Company in a state in USA wants Indian programmers to help them out to design new software, they can not get them. The law restricts them to get people from abroad to help them out. The above mentioned are just few problems and misperceptions of the people of as to what really is economic growth. Also mentioned above are the things that hinder economic growth. Now, we will be talking about how the economy can be boosted. Following are just few ways of what the government can do to stimulate the economy. We will then be discussing what the individuals can do as citizens to help in the growth of the economy. There are a lot of things that the government can do to make the economic growth faster. But in every idea that will be laid down, we have to keep in mind that this is not a perfect world and we can not expect everything to work out in reality, the way we want it to. There is always a room for improvement. One of the options to boost the economy is to create more jobs. More people being employed would mean more production and more production allows the consumption to increase and ultimately the demand for consumer goods would also increase. The aggregate demand for goods when increased boosts the economy. It is an entire circle that goes clockwise that is boost the economy when there are more people hired and under stimulate it when there is a high unemployment rate in the country. This option can also be looked from a different perspective. A high unemployment rate of the country would mean that there are more people fired from work. This means that the people who are employed will only be the ones with good salary. This in turn means that they will be the only ones in the economy who can buy goods because their purchasing power is not affected. Now, because not a lot of people are employed, the rate at which the products were being consumed before the raise in the rate of unemployment would fall. This decrease in the rate of consumption allows the companies fire more workers in order to increase their revenues, that is, if the consumption is low, their revenues will be low and they would have to fire more people so that they do not end up in losses. Hence, the unemployment rate would be even higher. (Giplin, 1987) Hence if the government starts to spend more on the various projects and infrastructure, that is focus more on the production and not just the spending, then this would definitely allow more people to be hired and thereby reducing the rate of unemployment. These artificially produced jobs do not directly increase the consumption of the goods but increase the level of employment in the country, increases the purchasing power of the employees and make them more efficient to buy various goods and services. There is one more thing that can be done to boost the economy of the country. That is through reduction in the tax rates. This reduction in the taxes allows the increase of the purchasing power of the individuals allowing them to buy more. This increase in the consumption of the goods then helps the aggregate demand curve shift to the right that is increasing the demand of the goods and services. Let’s take an example. If the tax charges for a particular product is 80 cents and before the increase in the tax rate was 50 cents, then I am more likely to buy more of that product when the tax rate was 50 cents. This increase in the consumption would then increase the demand. Hence, boost the economy. The tax revenue which adds to the revenues of the government might not be really high if the tax rates are high, as much as if it were low. By this I mean that, when the tax rates are high, people tend to buy less of the products. This increase in the tax rate although allows a high revenue for the government, but that is the narrow outlook of this perspective. Because, if the taxes are high, the purchasing power of the people decreases and instead of maybe 5 pieces of the same product that they used to buy with lesser tax rate, they may now buy just one piece of the same product. Hence the increase in taxes might not increase the revenue as much as the decrease in the taxes would. (Sacks, 2001) While the economists are dealing with the country’s economy, as in how is the economy to be improved, there are a lot of things that they have to consider. It is not just the tax rate or just the employment rate that is to be considered. Hence, it is important to know the problem, the solution to the problem and the most important thing is the timing. When the decision that has been made is implemented is very important. Hence, by the time the decision has been made and the economists are ready to implement the new policy, the economic conditions by then would have changed dramatically. It is good to leave the economy the way it is, at times. Before we make matters even worse, we should take a break, leave the economic activities of the country alone for a while and let them be just the way they are. There is a growing inflation in the economy, and not a lot is being done to decrease the rate of inflation. The upper class people are not the ones that suffer and undergo spending money from mortgage. It is the middle class and the lower class people who have to go through all the agony to have means to earn more in order to cover up the loans they have been borrowing. Now, in this very scenario, there are two things that are to be considered. One is the interest rate and the other is the inflow of money in the wrong hands. (Richards, 2007) The inflow of money in the wrong hands means that, the rich keep on getting richer, and the poor get poorer. The rich already have jobs which allow them to own multi million dollar buildings, private jets, an 1890 model cars and a lot more. And with their current employment, they do not spend that money, it goes in their bank accounts not in their pockets to spend. The government should be more careful in where their money goes. Because if the upper class gets it, it is highly certain that they will not be spending it, rather saving it. This entire problem of not spending will decrease the consumption of goods that are being produced. Where as, if the money that goes in the hands of the middle and the lower class people will be spent as soon as they get it. This is because they are the ones who are suffering from the increase in inflation. They are the ones who are not able to pay the bills, their children’s school fee, transportation expenses etc. Hence money in their hands would be spent pretty quickly. (Cohn, 2007) Every time the economy slows down the middle class and the lower class people are the ones that are affected by it. The reduction in the economic growth of the country is usually followed by a rise in the unemployment rate. The middle class workers are the ones that are fired first and they are rehired after everyone else has been hired. And they are the ones that mostly undergo all the problems faced by people in the time of poverty. (Levine, 1982) The second problem is of the interest rates. The government has to lower the interest rates so that the individuals are more capable of investing and consuming more. With higher interest rates in the market the people can not invest in the infrastructure, the increase in the interest rates contributes to the increase in the prices of the infrastructure that is for sale. The decrease in the investment by the individuals would in turn reduce the demand for the available land and the buildings etc. (Richards, 2007) Apart from all this, it is highly important for the government to reduce the costs of housing in the country. If the costs are reduced, they will be better off and will be able to afford things that they could not earlier. Not only this, but the government should spend more on infrastructure and build more houses. This would create more jobs and would allow people to buy more affordable houses. Earlier, we discussed the rising rate of inflation and how it affects the lower and the middle class workers. There is one more thing that the government needs to work on considering the ever-growing inflation rate of the country. The minimum wage rate of the people through out the country should be increased. This was the plan of the Bush administration before the attack of the September 9, 2000. It was to be implemented, but then the attack on the world trade centre took place and the economic growth was decreased dramatically. Hence, the increase in the minimum wage rate never took place. This increase in the wages will ultimately allow people to buy more by having their purchasing power increased. (Levine, 1982) One of the key factors that help stimulate the economy is a highly educated workforce. This workforce will help boost the economy in several ways. The wages of the people will be higher once they are highly educated and this will in turn help the economy to stimulate itself. Apart from this, the government should invest more in the capital in the country. This will allow the government to employ more workers and will ultimately increase the demand for various consumer goods, thereby stimulating the economy. It is very important for a country to have a proper and a strong infrastructure; this certainly helps the government to boost the economy. This strong infrastructure can not be obtained in a day’s work; it takes a lot of years to reach a position where the economy is strong enough to withstand the problems that the government faces during recession if there is any in the future. The individuals can and will do what ever they can in order to make their country better off but the country is nothing without proper law enforcement forces that will make sure that they are on the right track. Not only that, but the government will have to make sure that the promised contracts by the individuals are being materialized. The government should offer people different saving accounts which will push the people to save more. This will help them learn the importance of saving. A lot of people in the country are known for living large. This term is used for them only because they spend their salaries as soon as they get them. Now, this expenditure of their salaries that they do as soon as it enters their bank accounts is not a think that they should be proud of. But if the government advertise their saving accounts more then there is a high possibility that the people will save and put their money in those bank accounts. The reason this is emphasized is that if the people are unemployed, they would not have to borrow a lot and then be in debt for years, with the debt’s interest increasing every year. Well, first of all the government will be sure of the fact that not a lot of money will be on loaned if there is a high unemployment rate, and even if it is, they will be sure that the money is returned, because not a lot of it would have been borrowed in the first place. The people will take out money first from their saving’s account. With an appropriate interest return rate of the saving’s accounts it will be even easier for the people to save a little every month without second guessing themselves that the money they are investing will not be in vain, and will help them in the future. It is very important for the government to allow an open market economy. This open market economy would then allow trade of goods and services from around the globe without any hindrances. Likewise it would not only boost the morale of the employees to work harder to produce more goods and services but also provide them with higher wages. This higher wage will be a result of the increase in trade which indirectly means increase in consumption of the goods and services. This increase in consumption will allow the aggregate demand curve to shift to the right that is, the demand for the consumer goods will increase. (Sacks, 2001) There is one more thing which is very important for a country to boost its economy, to make the most of what it has and to be efficient. Timing is the most important factor of all. To produce the right amount of goods at the appropriate time is highly essential. This efficiency can be obtained with the increase in the technological advancements taking place in the country. The technological advancements of the country would not only make the production of goods time-efficient, but the production of the goods itself will be cost effective. The term cost effective means that the products are produced with the minimum cost of the raw materials, allowing a high profit margin. This high profit margin helps various organizations to produce more, hence hire more workers, and pays them more if the sales are high. All this plays a huge role in boosting the economy. (Giplin, 1987)

Plate tectonic press release

For many years people always called southern California Americas Promised Land because of Its beautiful weather, beaches and Its film industry. Now with 13 million habitants it's been looked at as hazard city. â€Å"Not only does the San Andrea Fault, marking the conservative margin between the Pacific and North American plates, cross Southern California, but LA was built across a myriad of transform faults† (â€Å"Case Study For Multiple Hazards; Los Angel's, California, Usa. , 1999). These Include the Santa Monica fault, the San Fernando fault, and the Northerner/Santa Barbara fault. Although the most violent earthquakes are predicted to occur along the San Andrea Fault, earth movements frequently occur along most of the lesser known faults. â€Å"The most recent of 11 earthquakes to affect LA since 1970 occurred in January 1994, focusing in the Northerner area It registered 6. On the Richter scale, lasted for 30 seconds, and was followed by aftershocks lasting several day s, The quake killed 60 people, injured several thousand, caused buildings and sections of freeway to collapse, Ignited fires following a gas leak and explosion In the Granddad Hills area, and left 500,000 homes without power and 200,000 homes thou water supplies† (â€Å"Case study For Multiple Hazards: Los Angel's, California, Usa. â€Å", 1999). There'd many reasons as too what causes the earthquakes and how they started.The earthquakes in California are caused by movements of huge blocks of the earth's crust known as the Pacific and North American plates. â€Å"The Pacific Plate is moving in the North West direction and is scraping pass North America at a rate of two Inches a year. About two-thirds of this movement occurs on the San Andrea Fault and some parallel faults- the San Action, Elisions, and Imperial faults† (â€Å"Southern California Earthquakes And Faults†, n. . ). Over time, these faults minor earthquakes.Let's talk about plate tectonics. There si x major plates and they are named after the continents that they are embedded in, such as North America, Africa, and Antarctic. The plates make out the outer shell of the earth called the lithosphere. â€Å"One way a mountain is formed is through convergent boundaries which is when plates serving land masses collide, the crust crumbles and buckles into mountain ranges† (â€Å"Plate Tectonics†, 1996-2014). Mountain ranges are also formed through divergent boundaries in the ocean. Magma from deep inside the earth's antler rises towards the surface and pushes apart two plates and mountains and volcanoes rise along the seam† (â€Å"Plate Tectonics†, 1996-2014). On January 17 1994 an earthquake rocks Los Angel's, California, ‘killing 54 people and causing billions of dollars in damages. The Northerner quake (named after the San Fernando Valley community near the epicenter) was one of the most damaging in U. S. History' (â€Å"Earthquake Rocks Los Angel's †, 2014). â€Å"According scientists using a new model to determine the probability of big quakes, California has more than a 99% chance of having a magnitude 6. r larger earthquake within the next 30 years† (â€Å"Earthquake Rocks Los Angel's†, 2014). How prepared are you for an earthquake? People with mobile homes and homes not attached to a foundation are at a much greater risk for damage. Buildings resting on unstable soil such as landfills are also at a much greater risk of damage. The Red Cross suggest that you: Become aware of fire evacuation and earthquake safety plans for all of the buildings you occupy regularly. Pick safe places in each room of your home, workplace and/or school.A safe place could be under a piece of furniture or against an interior wall way from windows, bookcases or tall furniture that could fall on you. Practice â€Å"drop, cover and hold on† in each safe place. If you do not have sturdy furniture to hold on to, sit on the fl oor next to an interior wall and cover your head and neck with your arms. Keep a flashlight and sturdy shoes by each person's bed in case the earthquake strikes in the middle of the night. Make sure your home is securely anchored to its foundation. Bolt and brace water heaters and gas appliances to wall studs. Bolt bookcases, china cabinets and other tall furniture to wall studs. Hang eave items, such as pictures and mirrors, away from beds, couches and anywhere people sleep or sit. Brace overhead light fixtures. Install strong latches or bolts on cabinets. Large or heavy items should be closest to the floor. Learn how to shut off the gas valves in your home and keep a wrench handy for that purpose. â€Å"(† Prepare For An Earthquake†, 2014) Now that you know all there is to know about earthquakes and how to protect yourself in them, you will better keep yourself protected from the dangers of them.