How to Increase Your Odds of Surviving a Disaster.
The people who walk away from catastrophes
all have a few things in common.
Now you can follow their lead.
You will need Preparedness Speed Drills and
neighborliness.
Step 1.
Hold drills with your family for fires, earthquakes,
hurricanes, and other disasters until the
repetition locks the life-saving behavior
into their brain.
People react best in an emergency if they’re
trained to go on automatic pilot.
When flying, always listen to the flight attendant’s
instructions and read the safety card in your
seat pocket, no matter how many times you’ve
heard it all before.
Step 2.
Don’t waste time debating whether the building
is really on fire or not.
Get out at the first sign of danger, and ask
questions later.
If you see people frozen with fear, yell at
them.
This is what flight attendants are trained
to do to get shocked passengers to leave a
burning plane.
Step 3.
For heaven’s sake, hurry up!
Amazingly, people are inclined to dawdle during
an emergency, rather than acting as quickly
as possible.
Step 4.
Leave everything behind.
The few seconds you took to grab your iPhone
could be the few seconds that cost you your
life.
Step 5.
Get to know your neighbors.
That’s who will be next to you when a catastrophe
strikes.
Did you know “Group think,” where people
follow each other and wait for instructions
rather than thinking for themselves, is more
common in an emergency than stampeding.
