Natural disasters are defined as naturally occurring events which result in great damage or loss of life. There are many possible forms natural disasters can take such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and hurricanes. This past year the United States experienced its first hurricane to make landfall since 2005, with the formation of Hurricane Harvey; a category 4 hurricane that hit the Gulf Coast on August 25th, 2017 and continued to ravage the coastal states for 6 days after, causing about $125 billion in damage (Amadeo, 2018). About 13 million people were affected by Hurricane Harvey, which resulted in 88 deaths total. The Houston, Texas area was hit the hardest with 51.88 inches (over 4ft) of rainfall in 3 days (World Vision Staff, 2018). As a result of this massive flooding, 39,000 people in the greater Houston area were forced out of their homes and into shelters. FEMA registered 738,000 people as needing assistance in the aftermath of Harvey (Amadeo, 2018).
_(50).jpg)
I followed this tragedy through the news app on my phone as it was occurring this past summer. What stood out to me the most was the response, not from the government, but from the people. I remember seeing headlines, reading articles and watching videos of hundreds of people, some whose own homes were damaged or destroyed, some who live nowhere near the Houston area, who put their lives aside and went out during the storm to help rescue others. While federal forces rescued about 10,000 people from flooding, another unknown number of people were rescued by private boats and jet-skis, with some being carried from their homes by ‘human chains’ (Reynolds, 2017). What would cause someone to leave safety or put aside worries of their own adversities, to help others? Why would someone potentially put themselves in danger to save someone else?
In this chapter we discuss empathy, the ability to understand and experience another’s perspective and feelings (Kassin, Fein & Markus, 2017). Perhaps the individuals who took it upon themselves to brave the storm and help rescue people felt empathetic towards others who were trapped in their homes or on highways. Maybe this behavior was entirely altruistic, the desire to help others to increase their well-being (Kassin, et al., 2017). Those who offered their own private boats and went to help were doing so purely to help others get out of a scary situation. Or maybe they acted egotistically, the desire to increase one’s own well being (book). These individuals may have thought they would get on the news or be praised as a hero in their community if they helped with the rescue efforts. Our textbook also discusses Daniel Baston’s ‘empathy-altruism hypothesis’ in which he states if you imagine how another person is feeling, you are likely to feel those same or similar emotions which causes an altruistic motive (Kassin, et al., 2017). It is very possible some of these individuals had been through a hurricane before. Maybe they knew what it was like to be stranded or trapped by flooding and they imagined what people were feeling, which led them to go out and help.
The threat to one’s community, which we discussed in chapter 5, could also offer an explanation to this helping behavior. Houston, as a community, was threatened by the heavy rain and high winds of the hurricane. Those individuals who took it upon themselves to go out and rescue people may have been thinking in terms of their community as a whole. They live in the same place, work jobs near each other, send their kids to the same schools and while they may not personally know each other, a sense of community takes over and some may have felt it was their duty to help, to portray their community in a positive light. Maybe they didn’t want to see stories on the national news of people being stranded for days on their roofs or hear stories of members of their community who died as a result of flooding. Members of a community often develop a closer shared identity following a tragedy such as this (Steelman, 2018). These individuals may have acted to help preserve and protect their community.
Putting aside the reasons for their actions, those who helped rescue others during Hurricane Harvey saved people's lives and for that they should be commemorated. Now I want to know what you all think. Do you think if you were placed in a similar situation you would have risked your life or your property to help save someone else? Has there been a time a community you are a part of grew closer as a result of a tragedy? What changes did you notice? Did you notice an increase in altruistic behavior following this tragedy?
References:
Amadeo, K. (October, 2018). Hurricane Harvey facts, damage and costs. The Balance. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/hurricane-harvey-facts-damage-costs-4150087
Kassin, S., Fein, S. and Markus, R.H. (2017). Helping Others. Social Psychology (408-451). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Reynolds, G.H. (September, 2017). Hurricane Harvey revealed the awesome power of real America. USA Today. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/09/05/hurricane-harvey-houston-flood-demonstrates-power-ordinary-americans-glenn-harlan-reynolds-column/631375001/
Steelman, K. (2018). Helping Others [Lecture Notes]. Retrieved from https://mtu.instructure.com/courses/1199264/pages/10-notes-2018
World Vision Staff. (February, 2018). Hurricane Harvey: Facts, FAQs and how to help. World Vision. World Vision Inc. Retrieved from https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/hurricane-harvey-facts
Photos:
Header:
First photo:
Second photo:
Third photo:
Fourth photo:
Hurricane Harvey affected so many people. It was very sad. I cam empathize with losing everything you own. If I was placed in a similar situation, I would have risked everything to help save someone. When I was about 6 years old, my house caught on fire and it was winter time. The community I lived in helped so much, some of them actually let us stay with them. Others gave us clothes and gave us food. I thought that the community, I lived in at the time, were kind of stuck up until they helped out. After that my view of them changed.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your experience! I agree that if I was placed in a similar situation I would risk everything to help save someone too. Maybe your past experience with a tragedy has allowed you to more deeply empathize with someone in a similar situation.
DeleteI think that when placed in such a devastating situation, people are more willing to help because they understand the severity of the situation and in the moment, I think people are especially more willing to help. Whenever devastation occurs within a community, I think most people of the community are willing to help because they know that they would want help from others if they were in the same situation. I think it's also important to note that when Hurricane Katrina affected New Orleans, many New Orleans residents migrated to Houston. Perhaps some of these people still lived in Houston at the time of Hurricane Harvey and decided to help because they knew the many effects that resulted from the situation.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t know that many people from New Orleans migrated to Houston after Hurricane Katrina. Knowing that now, I think that was probably a main driving force for why people helped save others during the storm. They’ve been through it before, so they know how scary it can be.
DeleteI would like to think that I would be one of the people to help in a situation like this, but I really don't think a person can really know how they'll react until they're placed in such a situation. All I can say is I'm very glad that Hurricanes can't reach the UP.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that someone can’t really know how they will react until they are placed in that situation. I’ve never experienced a hurricane before, but I have experienced a tornado, which was extremely scary. I was really grateful for the people that helped clean up and rebuild my house/neighborhood after the storm. I think that past experience is probably what drives me to say I would risk my life or property to help someone else during a similar situation.
DeleteWell written blog, I believe I would do something similar with my means. I was raised to help those in need as an Eagle Scout and Bye family member. It can be awful to hear about these tragedies. In my future line of work, healthcare, I will certainly do this. I won't be able to be like the Budweiser company and switch a factory to producing canned water instead of beer, but I would help how I could. Looking at Budweiser they acting egoistically and thankfully helped a lot of people. I say egoistically because they produced a super bowl commercial from their act of kindness and got great PR for it. I think more companies should do similar things, because helping others is a great way to get a customer base for a company.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t think of family influence on helping behavior, but I definitely think the way I was raised and the values my parents instilled in me are what drives me to say that I would risk everything to help someone. Great example with Budweiser, I agree more companies should do something similar during a tragedy. Even though it would be considered egoistical, they would still be helping massive amounts of people and that’s what matters most.
DeleteYour analysis of the different reasons that community members may have been motivated to help after the hurricane was really interesting! I would be curious to see if there are interviews with the community members, and what they state as their own reasoning for helping out. I imagine very few would directly state an egotistical reason, as people tend to downplay their "selfish" motivations, but regardless of why they did it, we should certainly commend everyone who helped, as well as all those who help in other situations and circumstances.
ReplyDeleteI too would be interested to hear from the people who went out in their own boats and jet skis to help rescue others. I tried to find many of the articles I read back in August that were about specific incidences of people being rescued, but I couldn’t find any of the same ones I had read previously. You make a great point that people downplay the selfish side of their motivations. I think that this is a unique example that most people probably didn’t have very strong selfish reasons, just because of the severity of the situation.
DeleteHurricane Harvey devastated Texas and many of the people living in the state. I personally helped in any way I could, which came down to donating what little money I could. I think in situations like these we are somewhat obligated to help in any way if we are able to. Most of the people that were caught in the hurricane lost everything they had, which is something that I hope I never have to go through. Because I put myself in their shoes, I wanted to try and help in any way possible, even if it was just sending some money to the hurricane relief projects. I am not saying we should all drop what we are doing to help those in need, but if you have the time you should try and do at least something, no matter how small it might be.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we should at least try to do something even if it is just donating a few dollars, every little bit counts during a tragedy like this. Yours is a great example of the empathy-altruism hypothesis, which is taking on the perspective of another person and creating empathetic feelings through that new lens and using that to motivate you to help. You saw that people lost everything and you put yourself in their position. From this you could better understand the pain they were going through which motivated you to help. I think more people need to start thinking this way, especially in regards to certain social issues such as abortion or gay marriage.
DeleteNice post! I certainly believe that in devastating scenarios such as natural disasters, I would respond in a similar way to help others and act in a way which represents the close community in which I was raised and enjoy spending my time in. While these natural disasters certainly seem to bring out the best in people, I can't help but wonder what would happen in the area if public media were not such an imposing force in our lives. It is definitely for the best, but without the public media bringing out the knowledge that there are other people helping these victims so far away from them with an issue that may not concern them at all, and inducing some sort of peer pressure/guilt response to get more people to respond when they may not have initially. I know that this is somewhat dark, and I'm more so playing devil's advocate here, but do you think that if people in areas not affected from the hurricane were unaware of whether or not other people not affected by the hurricane were attempting to help, there would be the same level of outreach and help? I think the answer is people will still most likely help from all areas of the country, but the thought of some sort of "peer pressure" and its extent of causing people to help crossed my mind as an interesting thought.
ReplyDeleteYou make a really interesting point! I didn’t think about the media's influence or sort of “peer pressure” when writing my post, but what you said is really interesting. In response to your question, I’m not sure. I think if people not affected by the hurricane didn’t hear stories about others who were also not affected going to help that probably less people would have gone to help simply because they didn’t know the full extent of the destruction if the media hadn’t covered it. Or even if they did hear about it and they still didn’t go to help it was because they wouldn’t think there was anything they could do to help or maybe they would figure they had enough help already. The media does play an interesting role in natural disasters now that I think about it. I think, mainly, a sort of diffusion of responsibility happens when tragedies are highly publicized. People start to think they don’t need to help/contribute, because lots of other people already are.
Delete