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I was reading this article about the Nashville bombing and listening to the 911 calls.
It brought to mind something I’ve seen in reports on all different kinds of disasters – from the plane hitting the tower on Sept. 11th to active shooter situations in public places: people reacting incorrectly because they don’t recognize what’s happening.
Several of the callers reported gunfire and one guy called and was scared to leave his apartment – which was what he needed to do in order to get to safety. Few of the callers actually realized that it was an explosion and buildings collapsing.
I’ve seen similar reports before – like people thinking gunfire is firecrackers or something because they don’t know what gunfire sounds like.
Part of this is cognitive dissonance. Who actually expects a bomb outside of their home or a plane to hit their office on purpose? But the other part is simply being unaware of what specific disasters sound like, which can cause deadly delays in response times.
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We are blessed not to live where we immediately know and recognize these things as a daily occurrence.
Getting through the loop at odarkthirty having not been in such circumstances nor expecting too I would imagine is tough.
I think most on here have been through it in their minds even if not in life. It’s the other percentiles that are worrisome. -
Haven’t had to deal with anything like that as of yet, but I do know it can happen. Crime around here is starting to rise. So far mostly auto theft, auto bread ins, robberies, things that have always happened, but much more often now. I subscribe to USA alerts. So that I can find out faster about things going on both in the US and in other countries. It does help to keep us on the alert for anything that might happen around our area. Not sure how I would respond to that situation of a bomb. But is something to think about and learn about what we should do in those cases. I don’t think that will be the last of the bombings.
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My (paranoid?) $0.02
I haven’t sat down in a room for several decades without knowing where the exits are first. If it is a place I frequent, like my church, I try to think of how a bad actor might enter. What behavior might telegraph his intentions? How to respond to a threat and where are known friendlies in the audience who might help. My eyes scan the crowd around me (I say around, but am typically on the edge where egress is easier).
I look for people who, in my father’s words, are not part of the crowd. Not based on race or gender. Sometimes based on attire if it is bulkier than the weather dictates. Mostly by body language. If the crowd is focused on the speaker, is someone’s attention on something else? Is someone not following what is happening around them? At the children’s playground, is there an adult, not obviously connected to any of the children?
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I was backpacking in the NC Mountains with a friend from Spain. He started messing around with a snake and said that it wasn’t poisonous. I asked how he knew. He said that the snake looked like the ones that are in Spain and they aren’t poisonous. I had to remind him that he wasn’t in Spain.
This is worth the read:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30231750-deep-survival
In the book there is a story of a surfer who was not familiar with the water conditions where he was visiting. Another about a rock climber who was interrupted in their rote safety check. Some lived and some didn’t.
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