
There Goes Hurricane Florence; Here Come the Disaster Myths - okket
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/there-goes-hurricane-florence-here-come-the-disaster-myths/
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js2
I was in Miami for Hurricane Andrew. Civilization did not collapse. There was
some theft of things like chainsaws and generators, but nothing that honestly
wouldn't be par for the course in Miami.

Meanwhile, folks cooperating to help each other out was amazing. Two small
anecdotes:

\- traffic lights were out for at least a week. There were not enough police
to man them all. But at a major intersection with two multi lane roads, taking
turns just doesn't work. Someone has to direct traffic. So what would happen
is a passenger would get out of a car and direct traffic for a few minutes
till his car got through. After a bit, he'd then get back to his car and then
he and the driver would head off. There would be a couple minutes chaos, then
another passenger would hop out from somewhere and do the same. It was amazing
and some sort of emergent behavior.

\- A gas station for whatever reason was unattended for several hours with the
pumps left on and a sign to just place cash into a drop box. So basically an
honor market. The owner of that station later claimed folks ended up paying
more than they had pumped. Don't recall if this was immediately before or
shortly after the storm.

Overall, the recovery brought out the best in most people. Of course there
were opportunists who took advantage after the storm, but that mostly wasn't
locals.

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maym86
This is a good podcast breaking down the reporting errors and myths that are
repeated after large storms:

[https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/summer-series-
episode-1-us...](https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/summer-series-episode-1-us-
storm-edition)

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yosefzeev
This article sounds like some sort of propaganda. In an emergency situation,
people obviously will do extreme things.

~~~
adventured
9/11 in NY being a classic example of how that isn't what people tend to do.

A wild disaster - terrorist attack - the likes of which none of those people
would have ever witnessed before. A couple of the world's tallest buildings
collapse. Thousands dead. The exact details of the circumstances mostly
unknown, along with the continued risk.

The New Yorkers that had to evacuate the greater area, post attack and
collapse, proceeded to overwhelmingly behave with great calm. They didn't
trample each other to death. They didn't behave crazily. They walked out of
there, peacefully, covered in collapsed building dust.

One of the many iconic photos of that relative calm behavior:

[https://i.imgur.com/EBCJm72.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/EBCJm72.jpg)

~~~
masonic
Counterexample:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_blackout_of_1977...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_blackout_of_1977#Effects)

~~~
tomatotomato37
I'd argue that's because the blackout wasn't a disaster per say, as much as a
major inconvenience. A mob of bored but otherwise safe individuals is more
dangerous than a mob of people in need but with a clear and sane way to
fulfill that need.

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yosefzeev
This sounds like it likely isn't so. Clearly, for any disaster, there will be
a certain amount of the things this article tries to suggest won't be.

