Not many people know what Normalcy Bias is or even that almost all of us are guilty of it. Normalcy Bias is a mental state that many people enter when facing a disaster or crisis. This is what happens when people underestimate the possibility of a disaster occurring and the possible effects. Lets explore this a little bit. We strive to keep things normal. "It would never happen here, to us". We tell ourselves this to keep from dealing with possibilities we are not comfortable with.
There have been numerous examples of this just within the last decade.
September 11th - A terrorist attack on U.S. soil? That would never happen here.
Hurricane Katrina - The levees would never fail, not here.
The current financial crisis - Our Government would never let that happen, not here.
No one believed any of these things could actually happen. So when they did, many were caught off guard and unaware. While there may have been a plan in place, how many went along with the plan right away? Stress adds to this problem. During a major event, many people are often dumbfounded and adding stress to the situation, it takes even longer to come up with a solution. Just look at how many people die each year from storms simply because they do not heed the warnings to evacuate. "It can't possibly be bad enough for me to have to leave my home, right?" Then something happens that no one thought was possible (like a levee failure) and you have thousands that should have been spared, if they only thought of the possibilities.
We all need to take more care full consideration of our own surroundings. If your home has a few tall trees around it and there is a big storm, you HAVE to be prepared for a tree to fall and land on your home. We don't want to think about that actually happening but we have to be aware that it COULD happen and have a plan in place should it happen. Most of us have band-aids in our house. Why? In case we get a cut, right? Why do we not plan for other things in the same way? We could spend all day, every day, thinking about what could happen to us in any given situation but we should have something in place to help us make better decisions in the event something happening.
Its not feasible for every family to build a bomb shelter but it is to have a store of food and water readily available. For what? For anything! I live here in Washington State and we are very prone to earthquakes. How many families are prepared for one? Not many. Why? Normalcy Bias. It couldn't happen here, not to us. We have been warned many many times and yet few of us are ready for the aftermath. I don't want to stand in line at the local grocery store with a panicky mob that is grabbing anything they can simply because they turned a blind eye to the warnings. Having some food and water stashed away for such an event will greatly lower the stress level for you and your family during any disaster or crisis.
As Americans, we have to open our minds to the possibilities of the world around us. We are not "Supermen". Look at what is happening in other parts of the world right now. These things CAN happen here. Look at how many governments are failing and going bankrupt. Are we ready for that? Of course not, because it could never happen here, not to us. We all need to wake up, just a little bit, and realize we are not invulnerable to the problems the rest of the world is having.
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