So close and terrifying natural disaster can be so much pain.

I hate to remember the day this incident happened. But on the said day, my late nun had recently put to bed, and the baby was lying down inside. We were all in the children's room chatting when something prompted my mum to enter the house. She walked in and carried her newborn from her bedroom and came into the children's room to hand us the child. It was as if she was sensing a potential danger.

She left the room once more and continued working in her vegetable garden outside the house. And as usual, we continued the screaming and chatting in the children's room.

All of a sudden we heard people screaming from outside that we should evacuate the building. Before we could step out of the children's room, the flames had covered the entire house. We managed to find our way out with the newborn, who was barely months old; a fire had started in the room right when the baby was just brought out.

One of my younger brothers has started a fire while accidentally playing with matches. Being a little boy of 3 years, he left the room when the fire started and didn't say a word. The very bed in which my baby sis was lying was already ablaze. We were all scared to the bones with so many what-ifs...

What if the baby was still in the bed? She would have been burnt alongside the mattress. Thank goodness that didn't happen, and that same baby is 13 years old this year. What if passersby didn't see the fire from outside? It would have spread round the building, and we could have gotten trapped. The fire was soon put under control. My mum's room and some major items got burnt, but we were lucky and grateful.

In another incident, I was coming back from the farm with my younger brother. We were meant to cross a small river before getting home, but on this day there was an early morning downpour, and the river was flooded. I had encouraged my younger brother to step into the water that we would scale through. I was wrong; the moment he stepped into the water, he lost balance and was carried away by the water. I was so scared as the small river leads to another major river that has claimed many lives. Not knowing what to do, I began to scream for help until an older person came to rescue my brother.

I was surprised at how much the lady could swim. She has deployed a lot of energy to catch my brother from the floodwater and pull him out. It was at that moment I understood just how powerful water can be too, and it could have flushed away my younger brother right before my eye.

These are my two experiences with water and fire; they are not close to being called a natural disaster, but I caught a glimpse of what people suffer during a natural disaster. The scary hurricanes,flash floods lightning, and that can eliminate an entire country in a split second are so real.

Natural disasters can be caused by man-made activities, and their devastating effects often leave a lifelong scar. The recent California fire got me really scared seeing people burnt to death in their homes; natural disasters are really a pain, and I hope that we will do well to avoid even the slightest accidents that can lead to such.

• Images are Canva designed.

My submission to daily inleo prompt.
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