Most of you are aware of the terrible earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan last week. What I want to highlight today, however, isn’t the disaster, but (1) the manner in which the Japanese people are responding to this terrible crisis and (2) share several ways we can help Japan during this time of adversity.
If you’re interested in waiting line psychology, you can also view all my 40+ articles on Queueing Theory.
No Signs of Crowd Craze and Mob Violence
We all know the typical response immediately after a tragedy – chaos, looting, violence, mob mentality, and other look-out-for-yourself behaviors. But, for now anyway, that seems to be absent in Japan. Instead, we’re seeing the spirit of the Japanese people stand strong despite this adversity.
Why?
Looting simply does not take place in Japan. I™m not even sure if there™s a word for it that is as clear in its implications as when we hear looting,™” said Gregory Pflugfelder, director of the Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture at Columbia University.
Japanese have a sense of being first and foremost responsible to the community, he said (source: http://goo.gl/oacpa)
Keep in mind that the normal course of action is to enforce order and enforce crowd control, but since there’s no mob-like behavior that takes key personnel away from truly pressing needs, everyone can focus on the highest priority items – that is, nobody is distracted by unbecoming and mob-like behavior.
Think of it this way: if there’s looting and mob violence, medical and security personnel will be on the scene to assist victims and to enforce order. But, since there isn’t any of that in the Japan earthquake so far, medical and security personnel can continue to focus on finding real victims from the tsunami and the earthquake.
This picture demonstrates my point, courtesy of CNN:
Instead of violence and looting, we see people that continue to behave the way they behaved before the earthquake. This rapid return to normalcy, psychologists say, will help Japan more quickly recover.
Mob Mentality
A cultural anthropologist, interviewed by CNN, commented that the real question is not why Japan is responding so dignified and orderly, but
the real question is why looting and disorder exist in American society [and the West].
Consider this picture of a food line in Haiti after it was hit by an earthquake in 2010:
There is a stark difference between the queue behavior in Haiti versus the queue behavior in Japan.
They continue:
Such social order and discipline are so enforced in ordinary times that I think it™s very easy for Japanese to kind of continue in the manner that they™re accustomed to, even under an emergency.
The communitarian spirit at the foundation of Japanese culture seems to function even more efficiently under the stress of disaster, he said.
The natural American inclination is to operate independently.
So you do everything you can to protect your own interests with the understanding that, in a rather free-market way, everybody else is going to do the same. And that order will come out of this sort of invisible hand.
And Japanese don™t function that way. Order is seen as coming from the group and from the community as a sort of evening out of various individual needs.
Commenting on whether this behavior is a type of self-protection to the Japanese society and whether it will help Japan more quickly recover from this tragedy,
Will this social attitude help Japan recover from this disaster? “In a word, YES.”
How You Can Help
Here are several ways we can help in the aftermath of the Japan earthquake and tsunami, courtesy of CNN and Associated Press:
- The U.S. State Department is urging any U.S. citizens to contact friends and family as soon as possible. They can also e-mail the State Department at JapanEmergencyUSC@state.gov. Those seeking information on security in or travel to Japan can call 1-888-407-4747 or 1-202-501-4444.
- Google also is assisting in helping victims touch base with friends and loved ones. Its People Finder, which was tracking about 114,000 records as of Sunday morning, allows users to look for victims or post information about people. It works in five languages.
- As myriad nations offer monetary aid, condolences and rescue teams, many people around the world are seeking ways to ease the burden on the Japanese government and people.
- The humanitarian group World Vision is rushing personnel into the affected areas and providing food, water, medical supplies and shelter for victims.
- It also plans to establish one or more child-friendly spaces for kids affected by disasters to resume normal childhood activities and experience structure and security that are often lost following emergency situations.
- Follow World Vision™s blog for updates, and visit its website or text 4japan to 20222 to send a $10 donation to the group. It will show up on your next mobile phone bill.
- The American Red Cross also accepts donations via text message. Text “redcross” to 90999, and you can make a $10 donation to the organization.
- You can also keep up with updates from the nonprofit by following its Twitter feed or watching its Facebook updates.
- The Salvation Army, which has had a presence in Japan since 1895, is sending a team to Sendai to assess damages and hopes to provide food, water and other necessities. In Tokyo, the Salvation Army opened its main building to house and feed commuters who were unable to reach their homes.
- The aid organization is issuing updates via its blog, its Twitter feed andFacebook page. It also is accepting donations via text message. Those interested in contributing $10 to the group’s efforts can text “japan” or “quake” to 80888.
- The group AmeriCares, which is also accepting donations, said it is mobilizing resources and sending an emergency response manager to the region.
- Save the Children is sending an emergency team to assist its staff in Japan.Donations to the group’s Children’s Emergency Fund will help preserve the welfare of young ones, who “are always the most vulnerable in a disaster,” Eiichi Sadamatsu in central Tokyo said in a statement.
- Globalgiving.com, another aid organization that allows donors to select the causes they want to support including climate change, economic development, human rights and natural disaster relief has established a Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund. GlobalGiving will disburse funds to organizations providing aid and relief to victims.
- Among those organizations are Save the Children and the International Medical Corps. The Corps, which focuses on “health care training and relief and development programs,” is speaking with local partners to determine Japan’s most pressing needs. It will send supplies or emergency teams based on those communications.
- To contribute to the Corps’ efforts, visit its website or text “med” to 80888 to send the group a $10 donation.
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Ericka Courtney says
I find this story interesting, but I am a bit confused. My question is, what’s your motivation for placing Haiti as the “How Not to Suffer” and Japan as the “How To Suffer.” That seems a bit strange, and Yes, Haiti and there was response was unorthodox, but does that mean that we need to downplay their struggle just to appease ourselves? You must be thinking that your story is inspirational.
It is not only insensitive, but it’ callous. Not a personal attack on you, but more on your writing style. Granted you have the freedom to express yourself as you deem necessary, but…this is a bit over the top. We all get the point. I got the point. But I also, took the Hit as well. It stung. It’s not a black or white thing. Asians are NOT more acceptable because they didn’t break windows, or barge into restaurants or stores looking for food. They are merely what their GOVERNMENT created. They are trained to act appropriately in times of crisis. Americans are trained to be more loud, and aggressive and bold. That’s fine, if you like the timid approach, but if you were thirsty, or hungry, or sick and Hot, just how frantic would you be? If you had not had water in days, you might go off a bit on someone. Perhaps you’d sit back and wait your turn, perhaps you’d keep order. But you know you’ve never been in this situation, so you should lighten up on countries that were destroyed from natural disasters.
If America was told, “There will be no more gas being sold for under $4.00 a gallon after April 2, 2011. I wonder how many SUV’s would be crowding the streets. Americans would try to kill each other to get to the $3.50 that we pay now. Americans are rowdy, rude and selfish as they come, and that is ALL RACES.
Pete Abilla says
Hi Ericka,
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment.
Please understand that there was no moral judgment on my part on Haiti or Japan – just an observation of the facts. I study how groups behave – especially in lines (queueing) – and the response from the Haiti and Japan are a stark contrast to each other. I’m not saying that one response is “good” and another “bad”, but rather one response is more productive and the other is counterproductive. There’s no judgment in that statement – but it’s really a statement of fact.
Additionally, I’m not sure I understand your comment on being trained. I don’t know about you, but nobody is training me, including my government. How has the American government trained you? You seem to imply that you’ve been trained somewhat or conditioned to respond a certain way. Is that true?
Out of nowhere, you mention race as being part of the equation here – mentioning “black or white”. I find your thoughts on this particular point very confusing. Nevertheless, I’ll play along. I’m Asian, my wife is White, and I have 4 kids that are Black (3 at the time of this picture, but have adopted 1 more child since then). There isn’t a racist bone in my body. So, to be blunt, I have no – zero – idea what you’re talking about.
Again, thanks for taking the time to read and to provide a comment.
Pete
Nha says
I found that your article is so interesting to me. I’ve read and realized that crowd control is really important after the disasters. I think this is the way they always act in daily life. They’re self-discipline citizens (Not to think bad about Haiti). My country has never faced that kind of terrific event at all, but I can feel the pain of Japaneses. I love Japan and Japanese too! They’re strong nation! I’m praying for them. May god protects them all the way through! Thank for your good article. God bless.