Interesting discussion, particularly between Micro and CSD. My own experiences after the Northridge Earthquake mirrored Micro’s arguments.
At the time of the quake, I lived in a very densely populated area of Los Angeles. To be sure, it was West Los Angeles (my neighborhood was solidly middle class) and not East LA. Also to be sure, the quake happened on a holiday weekend at 4:31 am (on the morning of the fairly recently adopted MLK day).
Also, I was not at the epicenter of the quake. On the other hand, just a few miles east of me, the Santa Monica Freeway (Interstate 10) pancaked in two large sections mid-city (poorer neighborhoods). Several areas not even close to the epicenter suffered extensive damage.
Virtually no civil disturbances were reported throughout the entire city. Looters were all but non-existent. People came together to check up on one another and help in the clean-up.
How could this happen? By all accounts, Los Angeles is this den of iniquity, where many theoretical worst-case scenarios are played out, in films, the forums, etc.
A former LAPD official offered his thoughts.
http://articles.latimes.com/1994-02-06/opinion/op-19644_1_northridge-earthquakeMaybe it was the time of day, in the middle of winter, on a holiday weekend.
Maybe, as the quake happened less than two years after the Rodney King riots, people were tired of fighting.
Maybe, the quick and organized responses of emergency crews kept people civilized. As a result of the quake, my telephone and electricity were knocked out. Gas, thankfully, was unaffected. Phones were up by 9:00 am and electricity, albeit shakily, was up by 1:00 pm the day of the quake. If the outages had gone on longer….
Who knows.
Maybe the current economic climate will cause a stronger negative reaction in a disaster (although, at that time, I believe that we were also undergoing a recession – not as bad admittedly).
These are some things to consider. Based on the above, however, I am not going to immediately assume that Americans are likely to go feral in the case of a disaster. Stories abound where folks around the country got together and rebuilt/fixed/whatever.
Andrea