WTC evacuations were calm and cooperative rather than panicked

Evidence

A recent interview study of 125 survivors from a range of emergencies and disasters across different European countries found that the most common behaviour people reported witnessing was helping (Grimm, Hulse, Preiss, & Schmidt, 2014). Moreover, as well as this evidence of help, there is also evidence of cooperation and order more broadly. For example, Chertkoff and Kushigian (1999) describe the 1993 evacuation of the World Trade Center as calm and with a smooth flow of people down the stairs; most people gave support to others, despite the darkness, smoke, and uncertainty. — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 33

Categorization

• CANDY: The 1993 WTC stairwell evacuation being orderly and supportive, clear of the panic in 9/11 films and fiction, is a good conversation-starter that flips expectations.
• corroborated: 5 independent passages support this claim — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 33
• XREF: connects to: Coordinated evacuation depends on organisation, not on the absence of emotion. — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 83; The Great Blackout produced euphoria and solidarity rather than panic — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now: The 1960s New York…, 983; Crowds during disasters are a resource for support, not a panic problem. — John Drury and Rupert Brown and Roberto González and Daniel Miranda, Emergent social identity and observing…, 135 (+2 more)

Related

• Even in bad evacuations panic stays confined to a small fraction (similarity 0.87)
• Coordinated evacuation depends on organisation, not on the absence of emotion. (similarity 0.86)
• Crowds during disasters are a resource for support, not a panic problem. (similarity 0.83)
• Disaster survivors in a crowd describe intense unity with strangers. (similarity 0.81)
• Emergencies typically produce mutual aid and orderliness rather than competitive panic. (similarity 0.80)
• Mass emergency behaviour stems from social identity, not panic or irrationality (similarity 0.79)
• Mutual helping, not selfish flight, is the dominant emergency behaviour (similarity 0.79)
• People act collectively in emergencies despite being conditioned toward individual self-interest. (similarity 0.79)
• Crowd identification predicts helping and reduces pushing in evacuation simulations. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Crowds during disasters are a resource for support, not a panic problem. #corroborates (0.90) — John Drury and Rupert Brown and Roberto González and Daniel Miranda, Emergent social identity and observing…, 135
• The Great Blackout produced euphoria and solidarity rather than panic #exemplifies (0.85) — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 983
• Coordinated evacuation depends on organisation, not on the absence of emotion. #qualifies (0.82) — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 83
• Disaster survivors in a crowd describe intense unity with strangers. #corroborates (0.78) — John Drury and Chris Cocking and Steve Reicher, Everyone for themselves? A comparative…, 61