# Presentation: 382743

##  Emergency Management, Homeland Security, and Higher Education: Overcoming the 9/12 Syndrome

**Kathleen Tierney**
**Department of Sociology and Natural Hazards Center**
**University of Colorado at Boulder**
**National Center for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism   (START)   **
**FEMA Higher Education Conference 2005**

## The 9/12 Syndrome

**Prior to 9-11, the Nation Had Done Almost Nothing To Prepare for Catastrophic Events**
**Homeland Security Challenges Require Both New Institutional Arrangements and New Management Philosophies**

## The 9/12 Syndrome

**Homeland Security Threats are Completely Different from Other Types of Hazards**
**Behavioral Insights Derived From Social Science Research No Longer Apply**

## Overcoming the 9/12 Syndrome

**Strong Emergency Management System Prior to 9/11**
**No *****a priori***** Reason to Believe That **
**	****U. S. Required Large-Scale Changes in EM Infrastructure, Management Assumptions**

## Overcoming the 9/12 Syndrome

**No Evidence That Individual, Group, and Organizational Behavior Differs as a Function of Disaster Type—Even for Events Caused by Intentional Terrorist Acts**

## Behavioral Myths Recycled and Re-Invented Since 9/11

**Panic**
**Role Abandonment**
**Victims and Public as a Problem to be Managed: The Need for Command and Control**

## Misconceptions About Panic

**In Public and Media Discourse, Term is Used Synonymously With**
**	****Intense Fear, Emotionality**
**	****Information-Seeking, Stockpiling Supplies, Orderly Flight**

## General Research Consensus

**Panic Is Exceedingly Rare **
**Research Has Identified How and Why Panic Occurs **
**Panicky Responses Can Be Prevented**

## Role Abandonment in Disasters

**Issue First Raised in the Research Literature in the 1950s **
**Has Been Debated and Discussed Over Decades, e.g., With Respect to Nuclear Accidents—and Now Terrorism**

## General Research Consensus

**Role Strain Does Occur, But Role Abandonment Is Uncommon—Especially Among Those In Responsible Positions**
**Over-Response and Refusal to Stop Working Are More Typical Patterns Among Crisis-Relevant Personnel**

## Disaster Myths and the 9/12 Syndrome

**Popular Culture: Disaster Films, TV Shows**
**News Media: Reporting Conventions, Emphasis on the Atypical, Drawing Conclusions Before Facts Are Known**

## Disaster Myths andthe 9/12 Syndrome

**9/12 “Experts” Unfamiliar with the Research Literature**
**Mistrust of the Public**
**Some May Benefit From Promulgation of Disaster Myths**

## Sustaining Myths of Panic and Role Abandonment

**“****Outbreak,” “Volcano” and “The Day After Tomorrow”: High-Ranking Government and Health Officials Leave Their Posts to Search for and Aid  Family Members**
**“****Dirty War”: Post-Film Panel Discussion Focuses on Panic**

## Sustaining Myths of Panic and Role Abandonment

***Science***** Magazine Article: Dirty Bomb Scenario—Written by Two Physicists—Discusses Panic Flight**
**Web Sites, Newsletters, Professional Training**

## Sustaining Myths of Panic and Role Abandonment

***Health Affairs: *****“If there is a significant bioattack, we will undoubtedly see defection of health care personnel.”**
**Concern With Absenteeism Among Health Care Workers Due to “Conflicted Loyalties”**

## Sustaining the Panic Myth: New Red Cross Media Campaign

## Negative Consequences

**Myths Learned by Next Generation**
**Myths Influence Decision Makers**
**Poorly-Informed Policy Discourse, e.g., “Worried Well”**

## What Can We Do?

**Intensify Outreach to New Homeland Security Higher Ed Programs**
**Engage Academic, Practitioner, Policy Communities, and the Media in Active Dialogue; Provide Insights from the Empirical Literature**

## What Can We Do?

**Emphasize the Importance of Critical Thinking and an “Evidence Based” Approach to EM and HS**
**Place Current Situation in Historical Context: We’ve Been Here Before!**

## 		
Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center

University of Colorado 
482 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309-0482

**Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center**
**University of Colorado **
**482 UCB**
**Boulder, CO 80309-0482**

**Phone: (303) 492-6818**
**Web: www.colorado.edu/hazards**