Do you run or do you stay?

One of the studies that has emerged from tragedies such as Sept. 11, the Asian tsunami and the tragic nightclub fire in Rhode Island looks at a group’s immediate reaction to a crisis situation. Humans have a need to comprehend a situation before they react, and those 60 seconds could cost them their lives. The Washington Post reports that human behavior in hindsight shows that people have a tendency to try to explain what is happening collectively, rather than just evacuate and ask questions later. The larger the group of people, the more likely they are to stay in an attempt to the discern the event, as in the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, rather than escape to safety, as sociologist Benigno E. Aguirre of the University of Delaware discovered. He also discovered that larger groups tend to look after one another rather than think only of themselves and rush to safety.
Living in Kansas, we find ourselves in this situation frequently when the tornado sirens sound. How many of us actually seek shelter, as our vigilant forecasters urge? Or do we wait for some sign — like being hit by a tree?
Posted by Angie Holladay

13 Comments

  1. Joe Williams
    Posted September 19, 2006 at 4:09 am | Permalink

    With Ultra Super Doppler Plus Extreme WeatherPlex WeatherLab Storm team, I feel safe from Tornandos.

    When a TV forecaster has a computer station that surrounds them with 20 flatscreen monitors, that would make the most ambitious computer hacker jealous, you gotta feel safe.

    They can pinpoint exactly where a tornando is…Maybe. ;)

  2. politicalmom
    Posted September 19, 2006 at 5:32 am | Permalink

    I get more irritated at the people who write into the newsstations for cutting into their precious programming because someone 4 counties away is having a tornado. Lives are more important, and those warnings need to go out first, it takes a long time to announce that tornado after it touches down anyway.

  3. JM
    Posted September 19, 2006 at 8:05 am | Permalink

    I won’t get started on safety issues as that is what my college diploma states. I just hope I can live long enough to enjoy retirement before some ’speeding-cell phone holding-inattentive Wichitan driver’ kills me because of their point and go method approach to driving.

  4. CapnAmerica
    Posted September 19, 2006 at 8:42 am | Permalink

    At Columbine the police told students to stay in the building.

    Same thing on 9-11. When the first tower was hit, people were told to just keep working in the other tower.

    The moral of the story is IGNORE AUTHORITY. Run for your lives!

  5. P. Julius
    Posted September 19, 2006 at 9:44 am | Permalink

    Our ‘vigilant forecasters’ over dramatize the weather situation with such irresponsible frequency most of us tune out their blathering – when it doesn’t block 2/3 of our televsison screen. My impression is that Kansans act fairly independently and assess situations for themselves within the prism of their past weather experiences.

  6. Ben Huie
    Posted September 19, 2006 at 10:10 am | Permalink

    I send my son up on the roof to watch for the tornadoes. When I see him fly away I send the grandkids to the basement.

  7. TRACY
    Posted September 19, 2006 at 10:31 am | Permalink

    Ben–HAHaving lived through a tornado,I have no qualms about tucking my tail and RUNNING.

  8. Ben Huie
    Posted September 19, 2006 at 10:42 am | Permalink

    TRACY – I didn’t say that I went to the roof …

  9. Tony
    Posted September 19, 2006 at 2:33 pm | Permalink

    I still go to the roof…

    The roof is the best place to spot, track and eventually tell if a tornado hits your house…

    In over ten years of living here, we have had about 3 or 4 tornadoes come within a mile of the house. 2 or so of those have come within a half to a quarter mile of the house.

    Me thinks that’s good odds. No wonder we can get insurance for tornado damage and people in NOLA cant get flood insurance. ;-)

  10. Todd
    Posted September 19, 2006 at 2:39 pm | Permalink

    It depends….are there Mossad sharpshooters stationed outside the building?

  11. Tony
    Posted September 19, 2006 at 2:51 pm | Permalink

    P. Julius

    I will have to say one thing, the forecasters have done a lot better job this year since the NWS has kicked up the requirements for each of the warnings. It seems that we have much fewer “warnings” all across the board, and a lot less interruptions in our valuable prime-time programing.

  12. Ben Huie
    Posted September 19, 2006 at 2:55 pm | Permalink

    Tony – I think part of that is that the local stations have improved their technology to just send them out on local repeaters where it matters.

  13. Richard Heckler
    Posted November 5, 2006 at 7:04 pm | Permalink

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