Myths, the ultimate survivors in disasters.

The article " Misconception as a Barrier to Teaching about Disasters " by David E. Alexander reviews the extent of belief in the common myths about disaster held by students from the University of Massachusetts and three groups of trainee emergency workers from Italy. As the author noted correctly, it is an important subject, as " learning likely is to be inhibited severely when misconceptions are carried from the beginning to the end of the process ". Improving the professionalism of disaster responders definitely is required, as the recent humanitarian interventions in the Tsunami and earthquakes have shown. I cannot agree more with the author about " crushing inevitability of the mistakes that are made, the myths that are propagated, and the inefficiencies that plague disaster management ". Evaluating the response or seeking the lessons " to be learned " from disaster to disaster will underline how similar and predictable the response has become. The extensive evaluations commissioned by the Tsunami Evaluation Coalition (TEC) are almost an encyclopedia of what can go wrong in the response. It is a serious indictment of the training and education provided to international relief workers. Indeed, most of the disaster relief is provided by non-professionals unfamiliar with the well-documented findings of disaster epidemiology. Not surprisingly , due to lack of prior experience, the untrained relief workers try to use popular " common sense " and inevitably adopt the myths and clichés adding to the confusion, fear, and ultimately the waste of resources. As the author observed, the role of the mass media is not negligible. Interestingly, the myths more deeply rooted and believed by the students in this study are the oldest ones identified in the literature: the widespread existence of panic conveniently is justifying the flood of external assistance to the " poor victims " while looting and chaos explain the militarization of many Civil Protection Agencies in developing countries. Yes, those beliefs have been demystified long ago! As early as 1974, when I started at the Center for Research on Disaster Epidemiology, I was deeply impressed by the repeated publications of Russell Dynes and Enrico Quarantelli that challenged my own belief of a population struck by panic and inclined to disorders. My first disaster experience as scientist was during the aftermath of the Earthquake of Guatemala in 1976. The lessons I learned from my experience there confirmed the stoic and quiet behavior …