Let's read...

When I worked at Time magazine, I ended up covering disasters, all kinds of disasters, sort of by accident, but also because of 911 I ended up covering terrorism, attacks, hurricanes, wildfires, and after a while, I felt like I was just doing the same story over and over. Those were important stories, like stories of grief and blame and stories of loss. But there were also other things that I was hearing from the survivors of these disasters that weren't making it into the stories, like really interesting, surprising, useful things that also weren't making it into, you know, official conversations about how to prepare for disasters. People found that when they were in a life or death situation, it was not anything like they'd expected. In some ways it was better, and in other ways it was worse, but their brain behaved differently than what they expected based on movies and news coverage and these survivors had things that they wanted the rest of us to know, things that they wish they had known, that would really help us to meet our disaster personalities before we need them.

Let's follow Amanda...

When I worked at Time magazine / I ended up covering disasters / all kinds of disasters / sort of by accident / but also because of 9/11. // I ended up covering terrorism / attacks / hurricanes / wildfires / and after a while / I felt like I was just doing the same story / over and over. // Those were important stories / like stories of grief / and blame / and stories of loss. // But there were also other things / that I was hearing / from the survivors of these disasters / that weren't making it into the stories / — like really interesting / surprising / useful things / that also weren't making it into / you know / official conversations about how to prepare for disasters. // People // found that when they were in a life-or-death situation / it was not anything like they'd expected. // In some ways / it was better / and in other ways / it was worse / but their brain behaved differently / than what they expected / based on movies and news coverage. // And these survivors had things / that they wanted the rest of us to know / — things that they wish they had known — that would really help us / to meet our disaster personalities / before we need them. //

Let's read...

We all have ideas about how we're going to behave in a crisis or emergency. It's almost never how things actually go. What you learn in a real disaster is that you have another personality, disaster personality, and it's helpful to understand it better before you need it. So if you look at human behavior across all different kinds of disasters across all of history, you see a huge spectrum of responses, some of which are understandable, right? Sometimes people start, you know, hysterically screaming. Other times, most often, people shut down. They freeze, they stop moving altogether. Sometimes people fight, sometimes people flee. Sometimes, believe it or not, people laugh in the face of a life or death situation. Sometimes, maybe most often, people carry on doing whatever they were doing before our brains can become incredibly creative in helping us pretend that whatever's happening is not really happening. And sometimes people rise to the occasion and do incredible things. They're they're heroes, right? Who who lead hundreds of people out of mayhem, who save lives at great personal risk. So there's a huge range of behaviors, and it's really hard to predict, just looking at the person, how they're going to behave.

Let's follow Amanda...

We all have ideas / about how we're going to behave / in a crisis or emergency. // It's almost never / how things actually go. // What you learn in a real disaster / is that you have another personality / — a disaster personality / — and it's helpful / to understand it better / before you need it. // So / if you look at human behavior / across all different kinds of disasters / across all of history / you see a huge spectrum of responses / some of which are understandable / right? // Sometimes / people start / you know / hysterically screaming. // Other times / — most often — / people shut down. // They freeze / they stop moving altogether. // Sometimes people fight / sometimes people flee. // Sometimes / — believe it or not / people laugh / in the face of a life-or-death situation. // Sometimes / — maybe most often / — people carry on doing whatever they were doing before. // Our brains can become incredibly creative / in helping us pretend / that whatever's happening / is not really happening. // And sometimes / people rise to the occasion / and do incredible things. // They're — they're heroes / right? — who lead hundreds of people out of mayhem / who save lives / at great personal risk. // So / there's a huge range of behaviors / and it's really hard to predict / just looking at the person / how they're going to behave. //