What will you do?

[wilbur lim]

Visualize yourself that you are right at the scene of a natural disaster.
Could you be staying rooted on the ground and your jaw dropped,and waiting to die?Alternatively,would you help other people to keep away from that disaster?Would you do others?Tell me your perspective,as this is my essay.Thanks.

[ClaesGefvenberg]

Fortunately, I have never been subjected to a natural disaster, but I have been at the scene of several accidents of varying "magnitude" (and also been the victim of a few). In spite of the fact that I do have some training, I must admit that I have been surprised by my reactions every time the smelly stuff has hit the fan:

I act more or less without delay, by doing something in a reasonably correct way. The really interesting thing is that I have been barely aware of what I was doing. Normal thinking appear to have been sort of suspended, to be restored only when the moment of crisis have passed. That is when the reaction sets in: In bad cases I get the shakes, in one case to the point of throwing up.

Afterwards I have a phase when I keep "rewinding and reviewing" what has happened, asking myself if and how I could have handled the situation differently. Then, after a while I let it go...

I don't know if I have been able to describe this in a comprehensible way, but this is the best I can do. Now I am very curious about how others decribe it.

/Claes

[Niamh]

Wilber Lim, Is this part of your homework?

[manolia]

Visualize yourself that you are right at the scene of a natural disaster.
Could you be staying rooted on the ground and your jaw dropped,and waiting to die?Alternatively,would you help other people to keep away from that disaster?Would you do others?Tell me your perspective,as this is my essay.Thanks.

Since i experienced the big earthquake of the 8th of June this year here in western greece (with the epicentre only a few kms from my town) i can tell you what we did. We were at my parents house when it happened. We are pretty used to big earthquakes here (lots of training in school with emergency exercises and teachers explaing to students what they have to do during an earthquake etc etc) so we pretty much did what we were taught to do. Hid under tables, doors, not moving till the earthquake finished and then go outdoors and stay for a couple of hours.
This one was a really big earthquake, the biggest i have experienced in my lifetime. There were only two human casualties (old people who died of fright :( ). Buildings are rather strong here, fortunately so nothing collapsed besides one or two uninhabited old houses.
During the earthquake i can assure you that i freaked out (i am not brave :D ) and i remember looking at the beams and columns and saying out loud "now they are going to crack, now they are going to crack" (unfortunately, being a civil engineer, i know where to look during an earthquake and that doesn't help ;) ). I know i gave my mom such a fright :lol: . So basically no, i didn't help anyone, fortunately they knew what to do.
My dad was outside in the garden and afterwards he told me that the house was like moving backwards and forwards (which is normal since earthquakes are ground displacements)..
On the whole an awful experience ;)

[wilbur lim]

Wilber Lim, Is this part of your homework?
Precisely.It's my homework.I cannot think of a suitable idea,thus,I posted here.

Since i experienced the big earthquake of the 8th of June this year here in western greece (with the epicentre only a few kms from my town) i can tell you what we did. We were at my parents house when it happened. We are pretty used to big earthquakes here (lots of training in school with emergency exercises and teachers explaing to students what they have to do during an earthquake etc etc) so we pretty much did what we were taught to do. Hid under tables, doors, not moving till the earthquake finished and then go outdoors and stay for a couple of hours.
This one was a really big earthquake, the biggest i have experienced in my lifetime. There were only two human casualties (old people who died of fright :( ). Buildings are rather strong here, fortunately so nothing collapsed besides one or two uninhabited old houses.
During the earthquake i can assure you that i freaked out (i am not brave :D ) and i remember looking at the beams and columns and saying out loud "now they are going to crack, now they are going to crack" (unfortunately, being a civil engineer, i know where to look during an earthquake and that doesn't help ;) ). I know i gave my mom such a fright :lol: . So basically no, i didn't help anyone, fortunately they knew what to do.
My dad was outside in the garden and afterwards he told me that the house was like moving backwards and forwards (which is normal since earthquakes are ground displacements)..
On the whole an awful experience ;)Wow,you really can remember your disastrous life.Thank you,and I shall note down some of your reply on my homework.Furthermore,I hope you're living fine currently.

[Shalot]

It's hard to say how you will react in any situation. There's what you think you would do, and what you hope you would do. And then there is the reality, with all those unexpected factors you never considered before.

[Dori]

Rrrrrrrrrrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ClaesGefvenberg]

It's hard to say how you will react in any situation. There's what you think you would do, and what you hope you would do. And then there is the reality, with all those unexpected factors you never considered before.Absolutely correct. Training helps, but even if you have been in a crisis before, you still cannot be certain about how you will react in the same situation at another time.

/Claes

[wilbur lim]

Yeah.

[TexJR]

I went through a twister once. And didn't even know it.