Com2SiCa (2) A database to explore the human behavior at the very moment of disasters

Résumé En

The human society is increasingly impacted by many natural, technological and societal disasters that stress the vulnerability of populations. In addition, the crisis management is particularly observed by people who judge their performance. To maintain their credibility, the authorities must prove their control over the situation. Significant efforts have been made in this field, to anticipate the disaster and the resulting disorganization. However, the importance of the human behavior remains limited in the scenarios that are still built on very simplified projections of population’s reactions. However, humans can act in a way that differs significantly from the expectations of the risk managers; this can compromise emergency preparedness and response. More, many deaths are caused by inappropriate behavior. That’s why the Com2SiCa research program is currently producing an original database on the behavior adopted by the population at the time of the crisis. This database relies on a large body of sources of information (papers, surveys, feedback reports, interviews, etc.) of the major events of the past 40 years. The objective is to identify the range of human behavior and to highlight its recurrences and specificities with a set of descriptors facilitating analyses and qualitative and quantitative comparisons. The aim is also to offer a large panel of observed situations for crisis managers’ education and training. This work has been supported by the French government, through the National Research Agency (ANR) under the Societal Challenge 9 "Freedom and security of Europe, its citizens and residents" with the reference number ANR-17-CE39-0008.