There's a Sociological Explanation for Why People Rush in to Help Communities Struck by Disaster [psmag.com]

Alicia Doktor 9/28/184:00 AM

It's a popular myth that when disasters strike, people become looting, panicking, clown-trampling George Costanzas. In reality, we're more likely to rush in to help others than run them over to save ourselves—so much so that emergency managers have a name for it: "mass assault."

Identified in 1969 by researcher Allen Barton, mass assault refers to the many people who flood a disaster area, including medical workers, profiteers, and families searching for missing relatives. Most, though, are helpers—people from both the affected community and outside it, hoping to be useful.

The sheer numbers involved are often massive: More than 12,000 people volunteered to help in clean-up and recovery after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing; more than 30,000 people volunteered after the September 11th attacks in New York City. After Hurricane Katrina, 60,000.

[For more on this story by KELLY CALDWELL, go to https://psmag.com/news/why-peo...s-struck-by-disaster]

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