How do people behave like animals after a natural disaster hits? How can people behave like animals after a natural disaster hits? Why do people behave like animals after a natural disaster hits? To answer all these three questions: We are mammals. We are animals. The only thing that separates us from other animals is that we are living contradictions.
Human beings are the paradox of all living animals. We have emotions and we have logic. We are the most emotional of animals; yet, we are the most logical of animals.
However, sheer emotions and sheer logic often conflict with each other. Sheer logic is considered to be unemotional while sheer emotion is considered to be illogical. But the thing that brings both logic and emotion together would be our instincts.
With instincts, we can feel, yet think at the same time. However, instincts are a primal force. There is something called sheer instinct in which combines both sheer emotion and sheer logic. When survival instincts kick in, we can become somewhat animalistic. Depending on the situation, our instincts can get animalistic to the point of being bloodthirsty.
The most primal of instincts would be the instinct of survival. Our senses of survival kick in. Survival equates to self-preservation and protection of ones own offspring/legacy. When the survival senses kick in, we become nothing but primal animals trying to survive.
We feel the need to survive and we think about whatever means it takes to ensure that.
One simply needs to look at Hurricane Katrina in the fall of 2005, which had obliterated the Gulf
Coast. Most of New Orleans, Louisiana
was flooded. The United States
response was deemed a complete fiasco.
FEMA was on the receiving end of the backlash. There was wide criticism towards the administration of US President George W. Bush in regards to the response. Many countries were quick to respond to help the Katrina survivors. The US government was criticized for responding to the 2004 Tsunami disaster faster than it did with Hurricane Katrina. Blame was spread across all forms of government.
For the time being, it was chaotic in New Orleans.
In the news, the rest of the world got to see how chaotic it was. The people of New Orleans were acting as savages for the most part. Many people wondered why the people were acting that way. But, not many people would logically take the time and assess their emotions. When we become “animalistic,” we come searching for the basic needs: food, water, shelter, gratification, and escape. Of all the animals, human beings tend to be the most selfish ones of them all.
Why were the people raiding stores and other places?
You need food. Food is the one thing that sustains you.
Without sustenance, your body will not be able to function. You will not get the necessary nutrients needed to sustain your body. Your muscles and bone density will decrease.
You become extremely weakened. At the end you die.
You need water. Water is the element of life. Without water, we will not survive. One of the basic needs of survival is water.
The people were stealing clothing because they need clothes on their backs. They cannot just go parading around naked. In that sense, clothing does count as the need for shelter.
In regards to escape, there is the need to escape to higher or “safer” ground. We as humans can get extremely selfish at best. In one instance, there was this one man posing as a woman and carrying a child that was not his. He was trying to get on a bus that was designated for women and children.
It would be one of the first buses that would leave New Orleans and head out to Houston, Texas.
“Gratification” is a gray area in that respect. There were reports of attempted rapes at the football arena while people waited for assistance. But, rape is not about gratification. Rape is about dominance and at many times humiliation. In this respect, it was purely about the dominance.
In that respect, humans became animalistic in a matter of days. They were simply just trying to survive. There is really nothing wrong with that in most cases. If you want to know why people act like animals after a natural disaster, these are the reasons. Our primal instincts kick in. It can be summed up to one word: survival. However, it is not limited to natural disasters. That applies to unnatural disasters as well.
When we come back to our “comfort zones” we revert back to “normal.” In the case of Hurricane Katrina, it took awhile before relief had actually come through.
But the longer they have to wait, the more primitive people can be. In this case, humans may do something that could be lower than primitive.
In the case of an unnatural disaster, there is the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe. However, there is the possible anthrax outbreak that is killing the country’s cattle.
So far, the people are so desperate for food that they are willing to eat the tainted meat. Other animals can sense when meat is unfit to eat. They just leave it there. As humans, logic kicks in. Combine that with emotions and instincts for survival, we will do just about anything. We will eat tainted meat or possibly human meat. It all rounds down to survival. At the same time, we toss out our own personal logic and emotions.
