“I'm a little worried about what would happen if we were to have an earthquake.”

In your apartment, you have a tall bookshelf set up near your bed with some heavy boxes on top of it. Earthquakes aren't common in your area, but you're worried that the boxes would fall and hurt you if one happened. You communicate this fear to your wife.

I'm a little worried about what would happen if we were to have an earthquake.

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“Some folks are evacuating, but I'm staying put.”

There's a hurricane coming toward your location. The news suggested that people in your area should leave, but you don't want to. You think you'll be OK in your home. You're writing about your decision to your friends on Facebook:

Some folks are evacuating, but I'm staying put.

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“First and most importantly, you need to make sure that all your students are accounted for.”

You're an administrator at a school. You're giving a presentation to the teachers about your school's plan for what to do in an emergency. You start by telling them the most important point:

First and most importantly, you need to make sure that all your students are accounted for.

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“All residents within a 5-kilometer radius have been instructed to evacuate their homes.”

You're watching a news broadcast that is talking about a volcano which has started to erupt. The announcer is now giving some more details about the volcano. She says:

All residents within a 5-kilometer radius have been instructed to evacuate their homes.

residents

"Residents" are the people who live in a place. This is a technical word that you hear a lot in news, on official government documents, etc.

(something) within a (10-foot, 100-mile, etc.) radius

In mathematics, the "radius" of a circle is the distance from the middle of the circle to the outside:

In the example above, the newscaster says that residents "within a 5-kilometer radius" had to leave. That means that anyone who lives 5 kilometers or less from the volcano has to leave.

People talk about things that are "within the radius of" something important. For example, you can describe the things that are close to where you live or work:

I love living downtown. I've got everything I could possibly need within probably a two-mile radius.

You'll also hear "within a ___ radius" when people are talking about bombs or other dangerous things:

It has a blast that will flatten anything within a hundred-foot radius.

(someone) has been instructed to (do something)

This phrase describes something that people in authority have told you (or someone else) to do:

I've been instructed to report tomorrow morning at 9:00 for jury duty.

Our situation is really desperate at work. All the managers have been instructed to start going down the list of their employees and looking for places where they can make cuts.

It's a formal and official-sounding expression.

evacuate (a place)

To "evacuate ___" means to leave a place quickly because of a disaster or emergency. Some examples are:

• People "evacuate" a building when it's on fire.
• In science fiction movies and TV shows, the people on a space ship sometimes have to evacuate if their ship is attacked.
• You might have to evacuate your home if there's a hurricane, flood, or other natural disaster.

You can use the word "evacuate" with a word after it like this:

As the bombing started, people tried to evacuate the city.

Or you can avoid putting something after "evacuate":

As the bombing started, people tried to evacuate.

“Mount Shinmoedake, a volcano in southern Japan, began erupting earlier this week.”

You're watching the news and you hear some news about a volcano. The newscaster says:

Mount Shinmoedake, a volcano in southern Japan, began erupting earlier this week.

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