In reading our article “Research on Disaster Response and Recovery” it is interesting to me to see how many misconceptions there are about crisis scenarios. The idea that people's instinct is to panic at the onset of a disaster is confused with the emotion of fear. Fear is a reasonable reaction to a dangerous situation in which people’s lives are in danger, but I agree that fear doesn’t mean that people will be frantically running and screaming away from the danger.
Another interesting misnomer is that during or following a disaster there will inevitably be looting and violence. This is a cynical view of societies based on a few previous examples that does not account for the overwhelming goodness of people. I agree that society is more likely to bond and lean towards helping one another rather than resorting to lawlessness.
In planning and executing recovery and relief efforts it is also interesting that there is a lack of foresight for community involvement. The “uniformed responders” seem to be the only ones considered for equipment and direction when the local community has knowledge of the situation, resources close, and motivation to aid their fellow neighbors.
I really like how you mention that during a disaster looting and violence seem to "inevitably" happen. However, if we look at and analyze the disaster in Japan there was not one act of violence nor was there any looting. It was such a horrific disaster, but the people remained somewhat collected. Maybe this is because of how widespread and destructive it was. The people were obviously in shock, but it is still amazing to see that they all worked together in getting Japan cleaned up.
ReplyDelete"In planning and executing recovery and relief efforts it is also interesting that there is a lack of foresight for community involvement. The “uniformed responders” seem to be the only ones considered for equipment and direction when the local community has knowledge of the situation, resources close, and motivation to aid their fellow neighbors."
ReplyDeleteI agree- and I think the local community should come together to create a response team. However, during a crisis, the community maybe be unable to get to a central location or be able to communicate to each other about what needs to be done. It may be possible to help your neighbor, but the community would need others who are outside and able to see the crisis from a broader perspective. I think the most effective way to attend to a crisis in a community would be a combination of both local and official help, but how the two would communicate and carry out plans, I'm not sure.
The media is responsible for the skewed messages the public is receiving when it comes to these issues. The news dramatizes everything by choosing the report on the negatives instead of the positives, the violence instead of the heroic acts and the sadness rather than the fact that the community came together to help each other get through it. They should instead focus on educating the population, especially the communities directly affected about how to prepare for disaster when it hits.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing they are terrible about communicating is the evacuation plans. People don't know what to believe, who to believe and often those with little resources don't have anywhere to go.
Those who live in high risk areas should have a back up plan for when disaster strikes. They should have money stored away, they should know where they can take their pets, and they should keep an eye on the weather or other conditions that might affect their safety.