IMAGINE if the magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Mindanao happened midday in major cities like Manila. God forbid! The situation could have been very different.
The earthquake struck in the early morning of Monday, June 8, while students were outside for the class-opening flag ceremonies at 7.37 a.m. Malls, offices, restaurants and commercial establishments were not yet fully operating at their capacity. With thousands more people inside these structures, casualties could have been significantly higher.
Now, imagine a packed church during a Sunday Mass. A sold-out concert. Sports arena is filled with fans. A crowded mall or cinema on a holiday.
In a crowd management perspective, one thing stands out — timing matters. This is in the words of Martin Aguda, a disaster and crowd management expert.
In these situations, the earthquake itself may not be the only threat. Panic can become a secondary disaster.
Defining panic
Panic is an intense emotional reaction characterized by overwhelming fear, confusion and an urgent desire to escape danger. Individuals in crisis may experience rapid heartbeat, impaired judgment and difficulty processing information.
Panic itself can become a secondary disaster — amplifying injuries, disrupting rescue efforts, spreading misinformation and endangering life. Panic reactions can lead to irrational decisions that worsen the effects of the original disaster.
Although such reactions are normal responses to abnormal situations, unmanaged fear can interfere with decision-making and community resilience.
The World Health Organization (WHO) notes that nearly all people affected by emergencies experience psychological distress, including anxiety, fear, confusion and uncertainty.
While disasters are unavoidable, the consequences of panic can often be mitigated through preparedness, effective communication and psychological support. WHO emphasizes that mental health and psychosocial support are essential components of disaster response because psychological distress can significantly affect survival and recovery.
The panic effect
Aguda’s biggest concern is this: How do we safely evacuate thousands of people from places of assembly during a major earthquake?
In crowd management, panic occurs when people attempt to flee a real or perceived threat solely to save themselves. Once fear spreads through a crowd, people begin running, pushing, shouting, crying and following others without thinking.
At that point, controlling the crowd becomes extremely difficult.
Emergency drills matter
Emergency drills are disaster management imperatives. Companies and schools need to train its regular occupants to know where to go and what to do. They may develop muscle memory and familiarity with the science-based procedures.
But this is different in places where there are transient occupants like inside malls, cinemas, concert venues, convention centers and places of worship. The transient occupants are unfamiliar with exits, evacuation routes, assembly areas and emergency procedures.
Expect them to be completely disoriented during a real earthquake.
Here is where leadership and trained personnel become necessary.
Why leadership matters
The teachers were certainly heroes. We saw teachers trying to calm frightened students during the earthquake. The many years of earthquake drills have helped create a degree of muscle memory. During emergencies, people look for authority figures and clear instructions. Salute to these teachers. Their role saved lives.
Leadership is the key to address another challenge — crowd congestion.
People naturally try to exit through the same doors they entered.
But during an emergency, everyone tries to leave at the same time from places that may take hours to fill as people arrive gradually. The main entrance that comfortably handled their arrivals may suddenly become a deadly bottleneck.
Leadership is required in crowd management’s emergency evacuation that requires a “dump mode” approach — opening all available exits and egress routes to rapidly discharge occupants from danger areas.
This requires trained personnel who can immediately recognize the situation and open all available means of egress.
Security and safety managers of places of assembly must go beyond compliance. Personnel must be trained not only as security officers but also as evacuation marshals capable of leading frightened crowds to safety.
Because during a major earthquake, the challenge is not only moving people out of buildings. It’s moving thousands of frightened people safely, orderly and quickly — before panic becomes the next disaster.
Panic lessons of history
History provides numerous examples of panic contributing to disaster impacts. In crowded venues, fear-driven behavior can trigger stampedes, crush injuries and chaotic evacuations. Research on crowd disasters has shown that poor communication, uncertainty and overcrowding can escalate fear and produce dangerous crowd movements.
In some cases, more people are harmed by the resulting chaos than by the original threat itself.
The sociology
and psychology of panic
Disaster researchers caution against exaggerating the role of panic. Sociologist Lee Clarke argues that the popular image of mass panic is often misleading. He notes that “group panic is relatively rare,” and that people in disasters are frequently “models of civility and cooperation.” Similarly, disaster psychologists Paul Gantt and Ron Gantt found that empirical evidence consistently shows that human behavior during disasters is generally pro-social rather than antisocial, with people helping family members, neighbors and even strangers despite extreme danger.
The greater danger may not always be panic but delayed action. Studies of disaster behavior have identified “normalcy bias,” a tendency for people to underestimate threats and assume conditions are normal despite clear warning signs. This hesitation can delay evacuation and increase exposure to danger. Experts therefore stress the importance of disaster drills, public education and clear emergency protocols to overcome both panic and inaction.
Disaster expert Lucy Easthope emphasizes that preparedness and planning are critical to reducing fear and confusion during crises. Communities that regularly practice emergency procedures are better able to respond calmly and effectively when disaster strikes.
Ultimately, panic is a disaster within a disaster because it can magnify human suffering, impede response efforts and create new risks. Addressing psychological reactions should therefore be viewed as a lifesaving intervention, not merely a mental health concern. By strengthening preparedness, communication and psychosocial support, societies can reduce panic, save lives and build more resilient communities in the face of future disasters.
Romanticizing resilience?
When fear and panic threaten to overwhelm Filipinos, we often demonstrate values that inspire hope and resilience. One of the most notable Filipino value is “bayanihan” — the spirit of communal unity and cooperation. We naturally help one another regardless of social status or personal hardship.
Filipinos also exhibit “malasakit” (compassion), extending assistance to those most vulnerable. The value of “pakikipagkapwa-tao” makes it second nature for us to treat others with dignity and empathy as we encourage calmness and mutual support amid chaos.
Yes, resiliency may be romanticized in the stories of many Filipinos during disasters. Be that as it may, coupled with strong faith and optimism, the Filipino values enable Filipinos to face adversity together — transforming the curse of panic into opportunities for courage, solidarity and collective recovery.
And whenever we suffer, we smile, bounce back and say, Padayon!
