Thought for the Day

"These days we tend to think of disasters as acts of God and government. Regular people only feature into the equation as victims, which is a shame. Because regular people are the most important people at a disaster scene, every time. In 1992, a series of sewer explosions caused by a gas leak ripped through Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest city. The violence came from below, rupturing neighborhoods block by block. Starting at 10:30 am, at least nine separate explosions ripped open a jagged trench more than a mile long. About three hundred people died. Some five thousand houses were razed. The Mexican Army was called in. Rescuers from California raced to help. Search-and-rescue dogs were ordered up. But first, before anyone else, regular people were on the scene saving one another. They did incredible things, these regular people...... In fact, as in most disasters, the vast majority of rescues were done by ordinary folks......It's only once disaster strikes that ordinary citizens realize how important they are." (Amanda Ripley, The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster strikes--and Why. bolding added)