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Chapter 8 - Myths About Disasters

from Section 1 - The Nature and Impacts of Twenty-First-Century Healthcare Emergencies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2024

By
David E Alexander
Edited by
Richard Williams ,
Verity Kemp ,
Keith Porter ,
Tim Healing  and
John Drury
Richard Williams
Affiliation:
University of South Wales
Verity Kemp
Affiliation:
Independent Health Emergency Planning Consultant
Keith Porter
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
Tim Healing
Affiliation:
Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London
John Drury
Affiliation:
University of Sussex
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Summary

Disasters are much misunderstood events, with misassumptions being common currency in popular culture, mass media, and even professional walks of life. We term these the myths of disasters for convenience. Rather than absolute errors of perception, they represent statistical generalisations about what is unlikely to happen in calamity. That people panic is perhaps the most common and enduring myth of all. Panic is a transient phenomenon that occurs only in specific circumstances. Looting, a measure of the breakdown of social order, is also uncommon, although it may occur where preconditions for it exist. Like other misconceptions, these myths fit easily into the ‘Hollywood model’ derived from highly stylised disaster movies. This model is countered by the therapeutic community that sociologists have found in post-disaster settings. Better education and more responsible reporting could do much to reduce beliefs in inaccurate portrayals of the phenomenon.

Keywords

disasterdisaster risk reductionHollywood model of disasterlootingmisassumptionmisconceptionmythpanic
Type
Chapter
Information
Major Incidents, Pandemics and Mental Health
The Psychosocial Aspects of Health Emergencies, Incidents, Disasters and Disease Outbreaks
 , pp. 36 - 41
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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