Local Offices of Emergency Preparedness (LEMA) Belief in Disaster Mythology: What Has Changed and Why? Available to Purchase

The local emergency management directors (n=54) from a midwestern state (USA) were surveyed to determine how accurately they understood behavioural response to disaster, which disaster myths they most often believed, and if education, disaster experience, and EMS work experiences were associated with a more accurate understanding of the behavioural response problems commonly encountered during a disaster. The respondents performed better on a disaster knowledge scale than did their predecessors a decade and a half earlier, which suggests that education and training have had an encouraging impact. However, they averaged only a 65 per cent (the equivalent of a “D”) on the disaster knowledge scale. They continued to believe that citizens will panic and behave irrationally in other ways, that survivors will not prepare or know what to do, and that the initial damage, injury and death estimates are very accurate. On the other hand, they understood that survivors, EMS workers, and others usually behave altruistically in numerous ways. Education, training and experience were found to be associated with a more accurate perception of the behavioural response to disaster. A response rate of 61 per cent was attained after two mailings.