3 - Dispelling the Myths of Panic - Jeff Neal

Dispelling the Myths of Panic during Disasters

Jeff Neal

Reference: Gantt, Paul; Gantt, Ron; Disaster Psychology Dispelling the Myths of Panic; Professional Safety; August 1, 2012

Theme: Emergency Managers and safety professionals should understand human behavior and design emergency plans accordingly.

Summary:

Many managers design an emergency disaster plan and expect employees to learn and follow the plan, Instead they should learn the behavior of their employees and then design the plan around how employees will act during a disaster. Gantt states that it's important to bridge the gap between the behavior science community and safety professionals.

Today's public perception that people will panic during a disaster was conceived by the media, Hollywood, and emergency planners. Studies show that this does myth is incorrect and most people do not panic during disasters.  Some social scientists argue that no panic existed during disasters.

Following the Beverly Hills fire of 1977, in which 300 people died, Newspapers reported "Panic Kills 300", "panic and 300 stampede to Death". However an investigation by the NFPA concluded that most of the people in the fire did not panic and that panic was not the cause of death.

When people panic it's the perception of events that cause them to panic. If they believe that escape is possible but that the routes are closing then they feel panic.  In case of miners trapped or submarine emergencies when there was no hope of escape studies show that panic did not occur.

When identifying if a threat exists people use three factors. Green states that the three factors are; Credibility and authority, the warning message itself, including any risk relevant information, and past experience.  AN example of this is Katina, many people did not listen believe they needed to evacuate because in past hurricanes they didn't need to evacuate.  During disasters people do not typically separate they bond together.  It's important for emergency planners to understand these factors.

Emergency Managers need to understand that sharing information will not cause panic, and that withholding information from the public during a disaster may cause the public not to take the threat seriously.  Having an open and clear communication of the risks before and during disasters is critical.

When performing fire and evacuation drills in schools and building managers need practice each drill as though it is real.  Having to many drills that are not at the same speed as the real thing will only cause employees to develop bad habits.  There is a saying that "perfect practice make perfect"

Leaders need to be trained and the leaders during a normal work day do not need to be those that lead during an emergency.  Leader during emergencies need to be trained in all emergency strategies and tactics.  Emergency action plans need to establish clearly who is in charge during an emergency, and this needs to be made clear to all employees so that the leader has credibility during a disaster.

Application to the lesson topic: In our understanding and studies of what causes death and panic during disasters, it's important that we also take the time to learn human behavior.  I think this is why emergency manager should have degree.  On the job training does not always provide the education needed to perform as an emergency manager.

Application to emergency services: As present and future emergency managers it's important that we understand human behavior during a disaster.  If we train and plan correctly we will be more successful when we are involved in emergency situations.