Survival in a terrorist attack

[Bubbles]

.

[floo]

Whilst we might like to think we would behave in an appropriate manner if confronted with a terrorist attack, we can't know for sure if we would.

[ekim]

Perhaps we just react according to which survival mechanism predominates within us ... flight, fight, or freeze.   It could be that those who appeared to be too bewildered to react at all were simply obeying the 'freeze' option.  I know when I was confronted with a similar situation 'flight' took over followed by hide/freeze.

[floo]

Whilst of course I have never been anywhere near a terrorist incident, I have been in several situations where I have confronted a person/s displaying  anti-social behaviour.

[Nearly Sane]

Given that one of the issues identified is not having considered being shot at with automatic weapons at a pop concert, I am surprised it is as high as 15%
 

[Rhiannon]

I agree, NS. Apart from people with some kind of military training I'd have thought most of us would be pretty clueless. It's completely out of anything we can reference to.

[Udayana]

Difficult to react appropriately without training, natural responses can be hopeless. Even in non-terrorist related incidents, eg fires people do stupid things. Reminds me of the recent case where people insisted on getting their hand luggage during an emergency evacuation of an airplane.

This is where organisations such as the Scouts/Guides can be helpful, teaching youngsters critical skills in a fun and safe way.

[Nearly Sane]

Also in the article, it gives two examples of people saving others, the security guard and the minimarket employee. This suggests, not surprisingly, that if you are more familiar with the surroundings and are there doing a job, you are more likely to be able to work out what to do.

I find the concentration on terrorist attacks in the article a bit odd though. There's a big difference between being in a bomb attack like 7/7 which is in terms of the incident closer to being in a crash or a fire rather than being shot at, and shootings are hardly a unique preserve of terrorists.

[jeremyp]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34844518

It's actually shocking that 75% are to confused to act and that 10% react inappropriately, getting in the way.

I don't think so. Most people go through their entire lives without getting caught up in a terrorist situation. You can't expect them to know what to do. And, to be honest, I can't bring myself to care about knowing what to do in a terrorist attack. Such events are so rare, there's no point wasting your time on worrying.

[jeremyp]

Given that one of the issues identified is not having considered being shot at with automatic weapons at a pop concert, I am surprised it is as high as 15%

I agree. If you hear a loud bang in a heavy metal concert, it is most likely a firework. I'm surprised that anybody did the right thing.

[Rhiannon]

I've read accounts of people surviving by playing dead in gun attacks, and I've also heard of people surviving by hiding in cupboards or offices, so assuming I didn't go into complete meltdown (highly likely that I would) I'd have done either of those.

But Jeremy's right, an advanced driving course is going to be of more use to just about all of us.

[Nearly Sane]

The one fairly major terrorist incident I was near was the Bishopgate bomb. I was in office in Threadneedle St at the time and we had been given the warning. We found place as far away from Windows (predictive text capitalised windows, perhaps it was a group of Mac terrorists) and got behind some desks. There was a fair amount of joking going on , which quickly became silent when the blast was heard and then a shower of debris,mostly glass flowed past the windows. Other than shock and a couple of broken windows, we and the office escaped in tact. There wasn't anything g to be done and having been given the warning it was other than the nerves not something that required much training for.

That said when there had been the earlier Stock Exchange bomb, and at that time I was in an office in Finch Lane where we could see the Exchange, the security guard came round saying there was a bomb warning in the Exchange and that people should stay away from the Windows. You would be amazed by the number of people who then immediately went to look out of the windows. Thankfully that was quite a small bomb.

[Rhiannon]

Ah, those were the days, when terrorists gave warnings first.

The looking out of the windows thing reminds me of The Diary of a Provincial Lady by EM Dellafield. In the third instalment WW2 has started and the narrator recounts the people of London being told not to stand and stare at the German planes flying overhead. She was of the opinion that the fact people thought it better to look at the planes than hide from them was what we'd now call pretty good PR.

[Nearly Sane]

Yes, my much fabled mother tells about sitting with my grandmother as they watched the planes fly over on the way to bomb Clydebank, and finding it exciting as well as scary. I doubt there were many in Clydebank doing the same.


Let's remember though that not all bombs from the IRA had warnings, and that that there was much planned shootings. Seeing ISIS, or Cystisis as per Adam Hills, as somehow a new low gives them too much power and previous terrorist groups too much credit.

[Rhiannon]

Yes, my much fabled mother tells about sitting with my grandmother as they watched the planes fly over on the way to bomb Clydebank, and finding it exciting as well as scary. I doubt there were many in Clydebank doing the same.


Let's remember though that not all bombs from the IRA had warnings, and that that there was much planned shootings. Seeing ISIS, or Cystisis as per Adam Hills, as somehow a new low gives them too much power and previous terrorist groups too much credit.

Agree so much - growing up around London it was unavoidable, but it didn't define my childhood or even impact it that much.

[Nearly Sane]

Agree so much - growing up around London it was unavoidable, but it didn't define my childhood or even impact it that much.

Growing up in the West of Scotland, and looking back at it, I am quite surprised that there was so little of the problems in NI carried over. Despite a reduction in numbers, we still have more Orange walks around the Glasgow area than in the whole of Ulster, and while there was the vague threat of violence at them, hardly surprising given other aspects of West of Scotland culture and combining it with drink, they were much less of a worry than Rangers/Celtic matches. What a joy it is when you can combine religion, sport, alcohol and testosterone!

[jeremyp]

Since we are doing close calls, I was on a tube train somewhere between Kings Cross and Liverpool Street at the moment when the bombs were set off on 7/7. I spent most of the rest of the day locked in the offices of a merchant bank and then had to walk back to Waterloo Station.

Walking through London in the company of thousands of other people and no internal combustion engines to be heard was quite a bizarre experience. I've never been in London before or since when you could describe the capital as silent.