Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why (23 page)

In 1917, Reverend Samuel Prince opened up his church to treat the injured in Halifax. Later, he wrote the first serious study of human behavior in disasters.
Credit: Alan Ruffman Collection

Two minutes before a tsunami obliterated Khao Lak, Thailand, in December 2004, tourists stared at the strange behavior of the sea, unaware that vanishing water is a sign of an imminent tsunami.
Credit: Charles De Pierre

In Koh Raya, Thailand, the water also receded before the first tidal wave came. This shot was taken moments later, as a giant wave silently barreled inland.
Credit: John Russell

Taken ten days after the tsunami, this shot of the coast of Banda Aceh in Indonesia shows the epic reach of the disaster.
Credit: Choo Youn-Kong, Pool/AP

Before Hurricane Katrina in 2005, elderly people were among the least likely to evacuate—partly because the brain values experiences over official warnings, and older people had survived many storms. Here a Coast Guard rescue swimmer helps load survivors into a helicopter.
Credit: U.S. Coast Guard

A view of the Louisiana Superdome taken two days after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast.
Credit: U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate Airman Jeremy L. Grisham

The first phase of the survival arc is the reckoning stage, which takes precious time. On 9/11, people in the World Trade Center took twice as long to descend as safety engineers had predicted. Firefighter Mike Kehoe, who survived, was in the stairwell of Tower 1.
Credit: John Labriola/AP

Deliberation is the second phase of the survival arc. As we contemplate our options, fear alters the way our brain works. Former U.S. Ambassador Diego Asencio was taken hostage in Bogotá, Colombia. He remembers feeling time speed up and then slow down—and thinking about a Norman Mailer book he’d once read.
Credit: © The Washington Post. Photo by Harry Naltchayan. Reprinted with permission.

Some people, like Brigadier General Nisso Shacham, the police commander in the southern half of Israel, seem unusually resilient in the face of extreme stress.
Credit: Samantha Appleton/Noor

To understand resilience, military psychiatrists have studied U.S. Special Forces soldiers. Even their blood chemistry is different from that of other soldiers.
Credit: David Bohrer

Groups are just as important as individuals in a disaster. In 1977, a ferocious fire destroyed the glamorous Beverly Hills Supper Club outside Cincinnati, Ohio, killing 167 people. A study of the crowd behavior showed that most people performed according to their assigned role that night.
Credit: Dave Horn Collection