IT WON’T HAPPEN TO ME

The Annual Disaster Statistical Review of 2016 ranked the United States second on the list of countries most frequently hit by natural disasters. A 2016 FBI report found that there was a 4.1-percent rise in violent crime in the U.S., totaling over 1.2 million incidents.

According to a Washington Post article, “a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) survey found that nearly 60 percent of American adults have not practiced what to do in a disaster by participating in a disaster drill or preparedness exercise at work, school, or home in the past year. Further, only 39 percent of respondents have developed an emergency plan and discussed it with their household. This is despite the fact that 80 percent of Americans live in counties that have been hit with a weather-related disaster since 2007.”

FEMA’s findings highlight that people still choose to be oblivious, nonchalant, or just plain irrational about the importance of preparedness, even when faced with the serious risk of a life-altering disaster. This behavior is often referred to as normalcy bias, a psychological state that