Years ago, my mother’s plane made an emergency landing after an engine caught fire during the flight. But as fire trucks surrounded the plane and flight attendants readied emergency exits and slides, something strange happened.
Instead of rushing out, many of the passengers began quietly gathering their belongings and taking items out of the overhead bins. My mother, the type to always read an airline safety card, left everything behind as she hustled to the exit, jumped on the slide and ran as fast as she could away from the plane. Years later, she talked with amazement about the odd reaction of her fellow passengers.
But their behavior was surprisingly typical. As journalist Amanda Ripley explains in her fascinating new book “The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes — And Why,” human behavior is remarkably consistent during emergency situations. Despite their immediate fears, people often are passive during emergencies, delaying evacuation and succumbing to a gathering instinct.
To learn more about behavior during a disaster — and how to improve your own odds — read my full Well column here.
And when you’re done, test your own personal disaster quotient. To take the “Unthinkable” quiz, click here.
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Maybe these passive passengers have simply come to terms with their fate? Perhaps they’ve made their peace and left behind desperation and fear?
— PBFROM TPP — I wonder if your response says anything about how you might behave in a disaster? The whole point of my column (and Ms. Ripley’s book) is that you have the power to improve your odds. Nobody needs to feel hopeless or resigned when disaster strikes.
Wait, Tara, I guess I’m confused. Is this column designed for moralizing? Are we to pass judgment on people based on their behavior in perhaps their most frightened moments?
If this column IS all about passing moral judgment, then I guess I do admire those passengers for having the grace to reflect on their situation with honesty. Frankly, I’m not sure that running, full-speed, out of the plane is a sign of courage.
FROM TPP — If you read the column you’ll see that of course it’s not about that. It’s about giving people the information they need so they can help themselves in the most dire of situations. Having been in a situation like that myself, I can assure you that in the moment, you are not “resigned to your fate” but your brain does shut down for moments and you fall back on what you already know The book is excellent and I highly recommend it.
— PBHmmm, my score on the quiz was rather ominous:
9/11
FROM TPP — Interesting! But it also means you are a survivor!!
— HalBased on my experience it is not that people are passive but that they are disoriented and confused. They have just been placed in a situation that they have not anticipated and don’t know what to do. Reading the emergency card or participating in a fire drill before hand gives them a plan so that they they know how to react. Otherwise they are dependent upon a leader coming forth. Anyone with a plan should immediately start acting since it is unlikely that anyone else will. Even if they have a plan it still requires self-confidence to start acting.
— Richard CampbellFROM TPP — Thanks for the comment. If you or other readers have your own stories about surviving the unexpected we are interested! Please share!
I’ve heard that many survivors of 9/11 did NOT listen to the instructions over the PA system in the WTC, which (I’m told) instructed people to sit tight. Instead, these folks left immediately, having lived through the bombing of 1993.
In this case, it was obviously better to act quickly and go against the authority’s instructions. But in the case of fire drills and other emergencies, I am amazed that people do not listen. You just never know if it’s an actual fire or something else, a drill, or false alarm. There’s no way to tell.
Another book that is helpful is the Gift of Fear by Gavin deBecker. It’s not specifically about disasters, but it covers personal safety and the idea of listening to your intuition, inner voice, and/or senses to get out of potentially dangerous situations.
FROM TPP — THere seems to be a difference between orders given over loud speakers and those barked by individuals in the situation. the book covers several fascinating 9/11 stories, including an amazingly moving chapter about a security expert and former military man who worked for Morgan Stanley and defied the conventional instructions given by the Port Authority. He drilled his co-workers endlessly and in the moment of truth, led his people to safety. Of more than 2,000 Morgan Stanley workers in the building that day, 13 died, including this heroic man who died trying to save his troops.
— KateLearning of some people’s “gathering instinct” during disasters was surprising. I live on the Gulf Coast and at the beginning of every hurricane season make a “hurricane box”. In this box I place everything I would want to be able to save if I had to evacuate immediately (picture albums, important documents, journals, as well as a few cans of food, extra clothes, flashlights and extra batteries) so that I can just pick up and go if I have to.
— Lauren AuversetUm, PB, you and your passive passenger friends can think as Zen-like as you please, but why hasn’t it occurred to you that such behavior actually endangers the lives of others? Emergency landing equals get off the plane ASAP. But you seem to think its ok to block the isle while you get your more important than life carry-on out of the overhead? Maybe you would have been content to be behind that notorious obese individual slowing the stairwell exit on 9-11? (Maybe she wasn’t slow due to her weight, but at peace with her fate!?!)
I’m one of the few who always get up and leave the building immediately during a fire drill. Last time that happened, I was the only one standing outside without my bag, and the first one out of the building. I saw people leave 10 minutes after me with their valuables, and all I could think of was what I could have lost if there had been a fire. Thanks TPP for reminding me that I was concerned about the least important thing to save.
— SandyI know what I would do in that situation. I’d run….I don’t have emotional attachments to things I own. I often wonder why people seem to identify so closely to their possessions.
— jenniferGood for your mother! It’s true that knowing what to do is not enough, you have to go through the moves.
You know how people always tell you that if your car sinks in the water, you have to wait calmly until it is submerged before you can open the doors and get out? I was once at an event where they asked for a volunteer, strapped in his seatbelt, to sit in a car that would be turned upside down just to show you how difficult it is to get out of one. Someone obliged. When they opened the car door, the young man looked VERY disoriented and flustered.
I wonder if everybody, driver and passenger alike, should not have this experience so that when the car rolls over or sinks into water, they would know what to expect and be able to act accordingly without panicking.
It is also true that survivors are usually bigger and more muscular than those who didn’t make it. I imagine that what happens insid that plane or ship or building is not pretty.
— Susanna6 out of 11
I guess I am going book shopping this afternoon.
— DRI missed the question about my personal relationship with my neighbors…it asked ME about MY relationship and then said MY answer was FALSE?!?!
FROM TPP — The point is to determine how prepared you are for a disaster. The quiz doesn’t say that your answer is false, but it’s not the best response in terms of being prepared. Get to know your neighbors.
— LauriHow does the research in Ripley’s book fit with the behavior of the people in India stampeding over one another because of the fear of a landslide? This mob rush tendency seems to occur often enough to require an explanation for the conclusions of the author to remain creditable. Are there cultural, demographic or group dynamics in play here that change the behaivoir?
FROM TPP — Her book dedicates a chapter to this issue. Panic is not the most common reaction but it does happen. Culture doesn’t seem to be the issue — there are stampedes at Mecca but also at European soccer matches, IKEA stores and during airplane evacuations. The chapter is involved and I recommend you read the whole thing, but she does cite research that describes a “sort of recipe for panic.”
It’s important to understand panic behavior, however, it’s surprisingly uncommon. The far more common disaster response, she notes, is to do nothing at all.
— Stephen W Emery#5, “Amen” to the recommendation on reading Gavin de Becker’s book. However, there’s a distinct difference between a disaster and a threat from an individual. Humans have had thousands of years of tuning our senses and responses to other animals, including each other. But the modern world includes many inanimate or mechanical features that our instincts cannot deal with effectively.
In such an “unfamiliar” environment, the key is to practice dealing with a variety of high-likelihood or high-damage events, the primary point of this article. Rather than trusting your basic instincts, you may need to be overriding them– an example is crawling through smoke to get to a staircase, rather than retreating to a far corner of a room with the least amount of smoke. Or jumping out of an airplane (with a parachute) when you’ve been shot down. These are not natural responses, but you can teach yourself to think of them as soon as the situation arises.
Don’t forget to teach your children how to deal with such contingencies, too. My 4-yo son’s bedroom is in the back of the house, on the first floor. If a fire should break out, he probably should NOT run through the house to get to the front door. But he’s too small to open the windows in his room. Against MY better instincts, I’ve been instructing him how to use a baseball bat by the window to break the glass, while standing to the side, then to smash the shards in the window as small as possible. Throw blankets and pillows over the edge, then crawl out over them and drop to the ground outside. We don’t smash windows in practice, but he will remember in an emergency that it’s okay to break them.
Also consider that whatever disaster thinking you engage in at home may not be very relevant when you travel or undertake exceptional activities. Learn about the risks associated with your destination and how you can mitigate them, before you leave.
— DawnaHaving served on my school district’s health and safety committee, it never ceases to amaze me of the “group think” mentality which can be demonstrated in it’s tragic extreme when it comes to emergencies.
I read Amanda Ripley’s book several weeks ago and was facinated too, by what the survivors said about the dinner club fire. Likewise, reading about the Air Florida flight that slammed into the Washington DC bridge during a snow storm was equally facinating.
What I have learned from my own experiences and from reading the book is that people must elevate their own senses and always be alert to the possibilities of danger. Furthermore, people should get into the mode of “If you see something, say something.” How many disasters could be avoided if someone who saw something, happened to say something.
One disaster that she didn’t mention in the book that I’m reminded of was the fire at the Rhode Island club that cost 100 young lives. How were pyrotechnics ever permitted in the room in the first place? Had I been in the room when they started doing them, I would have high tailed it out of the room. I realize that the fire exploded the room into flames in just a minute, but still, I would have been the first out of the doorway! That’s just the way I am. I’d love to hear more about what the survivors of that tragedy have to say.
Finally, I want to mention that after reading the book an incident occurred at our local library. Patrons were asked to evacuate our local library because the fire alarm sounded after one of the employees burned toast. Interestingly, there was a show going on in the building and many of the patrons did not want to leave. Afterwards, the library director was in a way pleased that the incident occurred because it gave her the insight into the nature of humans that Ms. Ripley so eloquently described in the book. I told the library director to read the book and perhaps it could help her in the future if a true disaster occurred. She said that in light of what happened, she was deeply concerned and would be having deeper and more meaningful discussions with her staff. And, she got a copy of the book for our library!
— voracious readerVery interesting and important article. Thanks, Tara. We don’t think much about disasters but it seems that if we did, we’d be much better off. And since I only got 7/11 on the quiz, I guess I’d better do some work on preparedness…time to get closer to the neighbors!
One thing I want to add, though, is that being better prepared for a disaster is different from constantly worrying about what might happen. It’s helpful to read the safety card in the seat pocket…it’s not helpful to live in a state of mental stress about what “could” happen at any moment.
FROM TPP — I think you’re exactly right. I also believe that feeling prepared makes you less paranoid — you’re aware and prepared for real risks and less worried about the unimportant things. The author also makes that point in her book — as a result of writing it, she’s far less worried about risk.
— MarthaI also scored 9/11, losing a point for my relationship with my neighbors (pleasant but not communal, though I do have close friends and family w/in a mile) and the increasing frequency of disasters… I grew up in hurricane country and I’ve witnessed/experienced several minor (not natural) disasters in the past few years, so a lot of the information is fresh in my head.
A few months ago a building in my apartment complex burned down. In the following days my mother asked me what I would do if I woke up and my apartment was on fire. I told her I would exit through the bedroom window (yay for living on the ground floor!). She then asked if I would have the wherewithal to open the window, to which I responded “maybe not, but I’d have the wherewithal to throw a chair through the glass.”
— MPAny consideration given by the book’s author to the fact that most of us have been fire-drilled on a regular basis since childhood? Eventually it’s like crying wolf — you no longer expect a real emergency when you hear the alarm. This does not explain passive behavior in other situations but sometimes it’s hard to imagine you’re in an emergency if no one is panicking (the inverse of the “recipe for panic”)
— anneThe questions are inexpertly presented. I think the concept is called poll pushing.
One of them, as an example, is something on the order of “Your odds of surviving a plane crash are quite low.” True/False.
The question should be “What are your odds of surviving a plane crash?” Low/about50-50/High.
Also, one of the questions asks about reading the airplane pocket emergency sheet. Your article explains that your mother did so and was amazed that everyone just milled around collecting items.
Really, really not up to par.
— AlexI’m a construction worker, so I’m in unfamiliar buildings all the time (I know that, if there’s a problem, just look for the big red EXIT sign and go down the stairs - I may not know where they lead, but they lead somewhere other than where the problem is!!)
Unlike the office folks, we DO NOT do fire drills - it would cost the bosses too much money to have us wasting time walking down the stairs and assembling in the streets insted of working (do the math - 100 workers who get paid $ 75/hr in wages and benefits spending an hour to do a fire drill? that’s a $ 7,500 loss for the contractors!!!!)
But, many of us took safety classes in apprentice school, so we know what to do. The guys I knew who were working in the Towers when they got hit just grabbed their tools quickly, went down the nearest staircase and then got as far away from the buildings as possible once they hit the street!!!
— Gregory A. ButlerI work as a teaching assistant for a study abroad program in sub-Saharan Africa. It amazes me that my college-age students seem to lose IQ points when they travel in their group of 14. They cross the street without looking, they fail to make the correct turns in corridors and streets unless we ‘herd’ them in the right direction, etc. This ‘group-think’ mentality strikes me as deeply problematic in times of crisis…people need to be aware of their surroundings, period. However, observing my students makes your mother’s experience make perfect sense…I think my students would be gathering their belongings from the overhead bins, too, unless their teaching assistants and instructors were there bellowing at them to get on with it!
I also was teaching at our university during a fire drill. The alarm sounded and I immediately reverted to what I learned in kindergarten. “Put your stuff down, form a line, and follow me.” My class was the first one out of the building, and none of my students had their belongings. We were in a decided minority.
— ctInteresting article. On the quiz, I missed the question about who is more likely to die in a disaster (men, women, or children) and the one about the increasing frequency of disasters. I’m curious about the correct answers to both questions. Does the author address why men are more likely to die, and what is the evidence that disasters are increasing?
FROM TPP — Men are simply exposed more to outdoor activities/jobs and also more likely to drive through high water. As for evidence of disasters increasing, that seems to be teh consensus based on building and density patterns. It’s an issue I plan to discuss further with the author in a podcast to air Thursday so stay tuned!
— AshleyOne disaster that she didn’t mention in the book that I’m reminded of was the fire at the Rhode Island club that cost 100 young lives. How were pyrotechnics ever permitted in the room in the first place? Had I been in the room when they started doing them, I would have high tailed it out of the room.
— Posted by voracious reader
Why would any sensible person go into a packed room like that in the first place? I’ve seen a lot of blaming everyone under the sun for that disaster, but no responsibility whatever assigned to the people, many not so young, who packed in.
— ellieI hope all the sanctimonious people making hate-filled remarks about the overweight can say that they have never done the following:
Driven after having anything to drink
— johnGotten drunk
Used a handheld cell phone while driving
Driven over the speed limit
Eaten meat
Used pesticide or herbicide on their landscaping
Own an SUV
Live in a McMansion
Throw out anything recyclable
Own a large plasma tv
Use a power lawn mower
You know how people always tell you that if your car sinks in the water, you have to wait calmly until it is submerged before you can open the doors and get out?
— Posted by Susanna
What’s with that? Instead of rolling down a window and getting out, you wait for it to sink in hundreds of feet of water, where the pressure crushes you like a bug, or you’ll run out of air before you surface? I don’t think so. (Not all of us have electrically controlled windows.)
— ellieYears ago as a teenager I was riding with friends around a mountain lake. The driver was young and sassy and driving rather fast, and we went off the road and skidded sidewise down toward the lake. The skidding stopped when the car leaned against a smallish tree; because of the slope, the car was tilted sideways against the little tree. My cousin in the back seat adamantly would not get out of the car until she found her purse. Eventually one of the boys who’d been next to her realized that she’d handed it to him as he had exited the tilted car. Now, was her behavior rational? Of course not. Would she do something similar in an airplane emergency? I hope not.
— Rachel Stewart