Civilian disaster scenario training: Why and how we should do it

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Too much media coverage of disasters is really just the same thing over and over: "Oh, look! There's Anderson Cooper in his slicker, and the rain is going sideways!"

These are the words of Amanda Ripley, author of "The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes -- and Why" and senior writer for Time magazine whose reporting on Hurricane Katrina helped Time win two National Magazine Awards, at a Tuesday morning session at the 57th annual IAEM conference.

Ripley explained that her book grew from the fact that she likes to ask disaster survivors what they wish they had known.

The year off that she took to report and write the book taught her that there are three phases of "disaster think."

Phase 1
The first is Denial/Disbelief, which can actually start years before an event. When the brain is under stress, the amygdala takes over from the higher centers and responds based on existing patterns. "New information doesn't work well in these moments," Ripley commented.

Part of the brain's limbic system, the amygdala has an important role in emotional rea