The Social organization of search and rescue : evidence from the Guadalajara gasoline explosion.

Includes bibliographical references

Uses information from the Guadalajara gasoline explosion of 22 April, 1992, to show the importance of social organisation in search and rescue activities. Information is obtained from forty three victims that had been buried alive by the explosion throughout the impacted area, and twenty two volunteers who had participated in the direct rescue phase. They reported on their own experience during SAR and the experience of victims and rescuers near them. Most of the people that were rescued alive in the aftermath of the tragedy were rescued by these volunteers. Volunteers' social identities in peer groups, extended families, the neighbourhood, and the Catholic Church structured their search and rescue activities. Chances of people surviving the blast were directly proportional to the presence among the searchers of a person or persons who cared for the victim and who knew the victim's likely locations. The behaviour of the victims was marked by the continuation of preexisting motivational, normative, and value orientations. Victims acted cooperatively during entrapment. Most of the victims that were rescued alive were rescued during the first two hours immediately after the explosion. Concludes with the implication of the study for collective behaviour and disaster research and planning