Friday, September 08, 2006
How to Get Out Alive
A report from Time Magazine, From hurricanes to 9/11: What the science of evacuation reveals about how humans behave in the worst of times, offers sad, but interesting insights into the survival rates of disasters, such as the March 1977 runway collision between KLM and PanAm Boeing 747's at Tenerife.
As it turns out, the people on the Pan Am 747 had at least 60 sec. to flee before fire engulfed the plane. But of the 396 people on board, 326 were killed.
One reason that more did not survive was because they acted upon instinct - which was to freeze. Had more done, as one man who did survive the Tenerife crash and whose story is recounted in this article, had done - studied the 747's safety diagram and identified the closest exit - then their instinct, with the right information, would have been to act in an entirely different manner.
Actually, it makes perfect sense when you read it - and we all should.
We can't help being human. What we should do, whenever we are in new and different surroundings, not just on planes, is to pay more attention to the safety procedures, RTFM and familiarize ourselves. We can't guess how we will react in a real emergency, but we can increase the chances of it being the right way.
How to Get Out Alive
Labels: Tenerife Disaster
