Fear of panic in disaster

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32540, 25 February 1971, Page 1

Fear of panic in disaster

In a disaster such as a major earthquake in Christchurch, people could expect to see able-bodied men trampling on children in their panic to save their own lives, Mr J. W. Ardagh, a Christchurch surgeon, said yesterday.

Addressing 400 people at a civil defence seminar, Mr Ardagh said that in the period of confusion during and immediately after an earthquake people would lose control of themselves and “their animal-like spirits would take over.”

He said that he had experienced the panic created by disaster in the villages of South Vietnam and had also seen in Christchurch a young boy die through loss of blood because no-one knew how to render first-aid.

“Nine people were standing around the boy who had accidentally cut one of his main arteries. He bled to death while someone tried to find information in a handbook on how to treat him,” he said.

Mr Ardagh said that the first and primary consideration after a major disaster such as an earthquake was to render first-aid. If a few simple rules were followed by everyone the loss of life could be very greatly reduced.

Hundreds of people died not because they were badly injured but because the es-

sential acts of first-aid were not applied. STOPPING BLEEDING He said that bleeding was one of the main killeis in injury cas&s but in 99.99 cases anyone could stop bleeding merely by applying pressure to' the point from which the blood was coming. “The civilian might be expert in the procedures of the T.A.B. but he doesn’t know much about saving his neighbour’s life,” he said. He listed the main points of first-aid as shelter, warmth, food, general and special nursing care. The first four could be administered by any person. 'He urged employers to make sure all their staff knew how to administer first-aid. Dr J. R. Dawson told the seminar that emergency hospitals would be set up in various parts of the city, medical teams brought in to support hospital staffs and medical aids made available at distribution points and chemist shops.

’QUAKE TOLL The divisional engineer of the Christchurch City Council, Mr G. Chapman, said about 1300 people would be killed and thousands injured in the central business

area in an earthquake similar to that at Napier. “We can rely on only 22 per cent of city buildings to stand up,” he said. According to studies made of city buildings, 78 per cent were regarded as suspect. Two-thirds of the people killed in the Napier earthquake had been in the central business areas of Napier and Hastings at the time. “There is no justification whatsoever for us to believe that Christchurch will be immune from the same sori of disaster which befell Napier and Hastings,” he said. He said he considered that the state of many buildings put up in Christchurch before 1935 was worsening. They had not been designed to resist earthquakes.

“It is said that the lime and mortar used years ago does not hold bricks together —it holds them apart,” he said. Besides the destruction in the business area; a major earthquake would topple nearly all chimneys or at least damage them to the degree where they would have to be rebuilt. Brick and block veneer walls would hot perform well nor would some clay and concrete tile roofs. In a case of a masonry tile roof, about five tons weight would be swinging around on top of the timber frame. PROTECTING PROPERTY Other-speakers at the seminar included Mr G. A. Eiby, of the seismological observatory of the D.5.1.R., who discussed how earthquakes affect New Zealand. Inspector A. W. M. Lawrence, of the police, instructed how to protect the lives of people and property and the Chief Fire Officer of the Christchurch Metropolitan Fire Board (Mr F. A. Hardy) explained the role of the fire brigade in a civil emergency. Displays were given by the fire brigade, police, Air Force and a civilian rescue team of their roles in aiding the community in an emergency.