Desensitisation to disasters: Are people risking their lives?

It is still of great concern how ordinary citizens continue to expose themselves to danger by being present at scenes of a disaster or accident.

In many instances, people have had easy access to scenes, climbing over and under safety tape or barriers, or just not removing themselves from danger.

An incident which took place in the Joburg central business district this week, suspected to have been caused by a gas line explosion, killed one person and injured dozens.

Videos which circulated online showed pedestrians still wandering around on the damaged street, despite it being a disaster scene.

Another incident was the Boksburg explosion last December, when a fuel tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas exploded under a railway bridge.

The blast killed 41 people and left scores with critical injuries. It is understood the driver of the truck immediately alerted his bosses and emergency services.

He is reported to have shouted at people to evacuate the scene. Reports state he also physically tried to remove people from the area around the crash.

Psychometrist Thembekile Madondo said people are naturally curious.

“People want to be the first to experience and be exposed to things that do not happen every day. It’s curiosity and the desire to see more,” she said.

This becomes a problem when it’s a dangerous situation, though. People who exposed themselves to disaster scenes are either not afraid, or are desensitised.

“They’re used to seeing these things on TV. So people who watch scary movies, they’re not really inclined to be scared when faced with dangerous situations. They actually get excited by it,” she said.

“It is a mixture of being desensitised to danger, because of being overly exposed, maybe not directly but through TV and social media.

“People also want to be the first ones to post something and just want to be relevant.” Madonda said the lack of information about disaster awareness was an issue.

Although there may be information available on some websites, it was not being shared accurately with the communities that need it the most.

“If you remember during Covid pandemic, a lot of information was being shared on social media about being safe and staying safe. There was even information overload because there was an issue that was seen as a disaster at that particular moment,” she said.

“Maybe we should follow a similar approach when it comes to generic disasters, especially accidents, as there’s not enough information.

“There are also not many organisations that focus on disaster preparedness and disaster response, and if they are, funding is limited. More education is needed and government should make it policy.”

Counselling psychologist and founder of Conscious Psychology Sanam Naran said while natural curiosity was innate to human behaviour, especially when something was against the norm, a freeze response to a threat – involuntary physiological changes – happened in the body and mind.

“This response exists to keep people safe, preparing them to face, escape or hide from danger,” she said.

A campaign which emphasised basic disaster procedures should be implemented in schools and work places. Is there a visible lack of control by police and emergency services over the scenes?

Founder of Gender-based Violence Monitor South Africa Omogolo Taunyane-Mnguni said emergency services and public safety should be taking the lead.

People exposed themselves to danger because the gravity of the situation had not been emphasised enough by the authorities.

She said without a strong message to alarm people about the risks they’re exposing themselves to, they’ll continue to behave like it’s merely an event.

“What the Boksburg incident taught us is we’re becoming more disaster-prone and that residents and infrastructure is at risk,” she said.