The Wisdom of Survivors
Check out this NPR Talk of the Nation segment on the book from earlier today. The listener call-ins included Diane, who survived Katrina on a rooftop in New Orleans; Gary, who survived the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in California; Upton, who lived through the catastrophic break up of United flight 232 in Sioux City, Iowa; and Nina, who clung to a cement bench in Kalamazoo, MI, during the 1980 tornado.
Think of the wisdom contained in that collection of people. Here’s the enduring mystery: Why aren’t Diane and Gary and the rest of them up on the stage at the multi-million dollar homeland security conferences and emergency preparedness expos that happen every year? Why don’t we hear from them? Why are we spending billions of federal dollars on haz-mat suits for emergency responders--and virtually nothing on collecting, analyzing and sharing the remarkable memories of regular people with extraordinary information?
I have studied the behavior of people in disasters for seven years now, and I still heard things from these people that I did not know before. Since the show aired a few hours ago, the Talk of the Nation Blog has already collected a gallery of other stories from still other people. The kind of people--neighbors, rush-hour commuters and office workers--who will always be first on the scene in any disaster, without gear or credentials or official acronyms after their names.
Josh said on July 30, 2008 at 2:37 pm
My guess is that part of this is due to government managers wanting well-defined accomplishments to list on their annual reviews. Buying a certain number of hazmat suits and training a certain number of “first responders” are both very well-defined. Talking to disaster survivors to see what you can learn is not. Who knows how long that would take before it produces a result the manager could brag about?
Accomplishing short-term, well-defined goals might get them promoted, but failing to pursue more nebulous projects will never get them fired, even if those projects might improve performance more in the long run. After all, they work for the government. Only appointees can be fired.
dan said on August 08, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Nice straw man, the evil, stupid, greedy, shortsighted, government manager. Only such a person would be so irresponsible as to train first responders or buy hazmat suits. Thank God there are persons such as yourself to point these things out to us sheep. I recommend you go to your local fire department and explain it to the men and women who work there. Get someone to go with you and film it. I would love to watch.
dan said on August 08, 2008 at 11:16 pm
I apologize in advance for this post. I think we all need to understand that every person in this country (or world) is a first responder. And if what you’re saying is homeland security should be helping people understand that point I agree 100%. But as for Diane and Gary on stage? I think we can and should do a lot better.
I have a direct question for Amanda. Of the people you interviewed who have been in disasters, how many gave useful information and how many just gave a confused story? I ask this because the impression I get from this entry is that every person who survives a disaster is a deep well of perfect knowledge.
I agree that their experiences should be collected and the useful information cataloged and disbursed. I just think there is more to it than dragging someone on to a stage.
I actually think a non-government effort would be much more effective and credible. Perhaps you should start a think tank. Seriously.
Mark Ewans said on December 10, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Thanks for taking the time to post such a detailed and informative article. It has given me a lot of inspiration and I look forward to more like this in the future.
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