Do not fall prey to normalcy bias

Hurricane season officially started June 1st and will continue until November.  There are many in the Gulf coast region that lived through numerous storms over the course of their lives.  This tends to lead to a phenomenon known as normalcy bias.  This is essentially where one believes everything will be fine because up to this point in their lives everything has been.  Many people tend not to prepare for disasters because of normalcy bias as they rationalize it will never happen to them.  Others lack preparedness due to apathy in which they think there is nothing they can do to prepare.  The following is an excerpt from my book, which discusses a survey conducted by FEMA describing statistics on preparedness in the U.S.

In 2009, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) conducted a national survey. The results were assembled in the following statistics:

Thirty percent of Americans have not prepared because they think that emergency responders will help them and over 60 percent expect to rely on emergency responders in the first 72 hours following a disaster .

Seven percent of individuals surveyed felt that nothing they did would help them handle a natural disaster, whereas 35 percent felt nothing they did would help them face an act of terrorism, such as a biological, chemical, radiological, or explosive attack.

Additionally, the survey found that many people – even those who claimed to be prepared — had failed to completed important preparedness activities or lacked a sound understanding of community plans:

Of those who perceived themselves to be prepared, 36 percent did not have a household plan, 78 percent had not conducted a home evacuation drill, and 58 percent did not know their community’s evacuation routes. 

Fewer than half of the surveyed individuals (41%) had practiced a workplace evacuation drill. Only 14 percent had participated in a home evacuation drill, and of those in school or with children in school, only 23 percent had participated in a school evacuation drill.

As one can see there is a lot of normalcy bias and apathy going on even within those who consider themselves prepared.  Human beings are the only animal species that do not listen to their fear instinct.  Most animals when faced with danger will run away, hide, or prepare for the worst by demonstrating growling, fangs etc.  Humans will instead convince themselves there is nothing to worry about.  They will walk down the dark alley, jog in the park by themselves, and demonstrate general apathy about preparedness.  Often these same individuals will make fun of those who do prepare, considering them tin foil hat types.  Understanding your natural instincts does not mean you live in fear.  It means you are following natural biological processes that have kept the species alive for thousands of years.  To deny these instincts is to potentially set your self up for a hard life lesson.  You do not have to live in hurricane country to understand basic preparedness principles.  A natural or man-made disaster can happen anywhere, at anytime.  You owe it to your self and your family to research the subject of disaster preparedness.  Make a plan, work your plan, and stay alive.

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