Disaster: Would You Survive?

Back in my pre-baby life, I worked for the Army Corps of Engineers, running emergency construction projects. In the spring of 1999, I was in Kellogg, Idaho, building a chute to channel some anticipated floodwaters away from the town. This required digging a trench for a large culvert in a narrow canyon. The culvert sections had to be fastened together inside the trench. If you don't know a lot about trenches, they are extremely dangerous. Dirt is very heavy, and someone inside a trench can be crushed to death even without being buried. So, whenever the workers were in the trench, I was watching very carefully, ready to warn them if I saw any movement on the sides. Sure enough, one of the sides caved in. And, I stood and watched the dirt fall in slow motion and said nothing. Why? I had no idea, and it has bothered me ever since. But guess what? It turns out I was in denial, and it's a common, but surprising, response when something disastrous happens. Luckily, that day only a small part of the trench wall fell in, the workers jumped clear and everything was fine.

I just read 'The Unthinkable; Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why' by Amanda Ripley, and it was an absolutely fascinating look into risks and how the human brain and body respond to, well, the unthinkable: plane crashes, shooting rampages, and natural disasters.

The author studied many different incidents, from ferry sinkings to Virginia Tech to fires to 9/11, and found that in every case, survival depends on regular people at the scene, not on professional responders. By the time emergency personnel arrives, it's too late. But there's no training for regular people, so we have to be responsible for ourselves. The good news is that our risk of facing some catastrophic incident is much lower than our risk of say, having a stroke. But for various reasons related to our humanness, we dread disasters much more than the common diseases that we're much more likely to suffer from. So, eat your vegetables, get your exercise, quit smoking, meditate! And there's more good news: there's also plenty we can do to up our odds of survival in a disaster.

Some common reactions are not what you might expect: In disaster after disaster, investigations have shown that many people don't react; they simply fall into a stupor, as if paralyzed. It takes a jolt to snap them out of it and get them moving. For this reason, flight attendants are trained to shriek at people in airplane evacuations to get them moving. 'Milling' and 'Gathering' are also common responses. In the WTC attack, people in the towers were slow to evacuate for several reasons, but many of them stopped to gather belongings, and to discuss the situation with others. Group dynamics are always interesting, but in a disaster, people tend to herd up and wait to be told what to do. And that's fine if there is someone there who knows what to do, but that's not often the case.

When something happens, survival depends on you and those around you. And, like everything else in life, it's the simple things: Read the safety card on the airplane. Find the nearest exits and count the number of rows to get there. When you enter a high-rise, find the stairs and know where they go. Drive defensively. In general, have some situational awareness. Make a habit of looking around you and pay attention to what's going on. And breathe. Studies have shown that the same breathing patterns that help you meditate or soldier through labor can keep you calm in an emergency.

Living here at Osan, I am pretty complacent, but the reality is that there is a constant threat of aggression or terrorism. How would you react? Think about it, and make a plan. It might save your life.

Anna, guest blogger