How Would You Delay?

CRESA Emergency Management staff are all reading the book "The Unthinkable" by Amanda Ripley this year.  This book walks the reader through the psychological impact of disasters and describes how people respond when the "unthinkable" occurs.  

Ms. Ripley challenges the reader to get to know their own "disaster personality" and focus on building and exercising survival skills so that individuals build the resiliency they need to survive disasterous situations. 

Today's lesson was on "delay" and the things the people do during emergency situations to deny what is going on around them.  Some of the delay actions mentioned in this book included:

• Lethargic 
• Inappropriate Laughter
• Silence
• Milling About the Area, collecting things like papers 
• Making Phone Calls 

Do you know how you would respond during an emergency?  Perhaps you have a life experience that you could reflect on that would help you identify how you might delay during an emergency. 

Survivability skills (even as simple as knowing how to exit a building without an elevator) can and should be practiced regularly so that your personal delay doesn't threaten your life in an emergency event!