The Effects of a Threatening Rumor on a Disaster-Stricken Community (1958) / Chapter Skim
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Chapter III. Analysis of the Respondent Data
Chapter III. Analysis of the Respondent Data
Pages 23-50
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From page 23... ...
107 residents were chosen at random from the current city directory in an attempt to get a representative sample of the adult city population. A separate (saturation)
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The disaster experience of respondents is indicated in Table opposite. A number of Port Jervis residents (15 per cent of the sample)
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* Total P devious disaster experience Flood experience Other disasters Total, previ ous disaster experience Damage from 1955 floods Maj or per sonal property lo s s Major loss to friends, family Minor lo s s, own or r elative s Personal los s to business Irons, nature unspecified Total, damage from '55 floods 15.0 13.1 ~ ..
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From page 26... ...
The official report of the Police Chief provides an empirical check here on the representativeness of TABLE 2 PER CENT OF RESPONDENTS WHO HEARD FALSE REPORT AND PER CENT WHO EVACUATED EXPOSURE TO AND REACTION TO THE FALSE REPORT Per Cent Total Ye s No Total Number ~100.0 1i 75.
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From page 27... ...
The false report began to circulate sometime after 10:30 on Saturday night, and it continued to spread until after 1:00 in the morning, though most of the respondents had heard the rumor by midnight. The median time for receipt of the first threat message was 11:30.
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From page 28... ...
Respondents activities at the time the false report was heard is indicated in Table 5 below. TABLE 4 LOCATION OF RESPONDENT WHEN HE HEARD FALSE REPORT Location At ho me e ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ e ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ e ~ e e ~ ~ e ~ ~ e e Friends, relative s, or neighbor s' house On the street (walking or driving)
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From page 29... ...
The location of respondents' families are indicated in Table 6 below. TABLE 6 LOCATION OF RESPONDENT'S FAKD:LY WHEN HE HEARD FALSE REPORT Location With respondent, or respondent was sure his family was safe ..eeeeeeeas Separated from re spondent With means for a quick check ........
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From page 30... ...
of the 107 respondents in the sample stated that they heard noise or sirens (separately frosts any threat messages) on the night of the report.
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through unofficial sources. The pattern of sources for all three threat messages is quite similar.
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Official Sources Fire truck loudspeakers Officials at communica t~on centers Officials away from communication centers Total, official sources Unofficial Sour ce s Relative s Friends Stranger s Total unofficial sources Source Undetermined 1.
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Sixty-two per cent of TABLE 9 BELIEF IN THE FALSE REPORT Degree of Belief At least partial belief Complete belief after one exposure to thre at me s s age .
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TABLE 1 0 RESPONDENTS' ESTIMATE OF DANGER Type of Danger Physical Property Percent (N=78) estimating danger as _ No Doubtful Dange r E stimate 28.2 19.2 26.
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2. Activities before flight: After receiving the threat message, some residents fled immediately.
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More than three-quarters of those who tried to verify chose an official source of information. TABLE 1 3 RESPONDENTS SEEKING TO CONFIRM THREAT MESSAGES Tone of Reaction Respondent attempted to confirm before flight Re spondent bell eve d, but did not attempt to confirm before flight .
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We ther efore attempted to dete rmine how re spondents tried to assist others before they received denial messages and before flight. Twenty-eight respondents (35.
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3. Respondent impressions of the reactions of others: Respondents were asked to indicate their estimate or tne reactions of others in their vicinity to the threat messages.
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9. 5 12.8 Total Percent 100.0 1 00.
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4. Flight behavior of respondents: As indicated in Table 2, twenty-six respondents fled as a direct result of hearing the threat messages.
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These findings are presented in Table 19 below. TABLE 1 9 MATERIALS RESPONDENTS PLANNED TO TAKE IN FLIGHT AND ITS RELATION TO PRIOR PREPARATION Prior Preparation Survival Value Mate rial Percent of Respondents Taking: _ Only Non- survival Value No Mate r tat Mate rial T o tal 100.
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From page 42... ...
Unlike the threat messages, denials were given through mass media broadcasting at frequent intervals. Had a respondent tuned his radio to the local station, or were fire-trucks equipped with loudspeakers passing through his neighborhood, he might hear a denial message every few minutes for a period of hours.
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From page 43... ...
Of the 189 messages whose source we can determine, 79.4 per cent were transmitted by officials, while only 18. 9 per cent of the threat messages were transmitted by officials.
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From page 44... ...
TABLE 22 SOURCE AND CHANNEL OF DENIAL MESSAGES Percent (N=78) Receiving Source and Channel Official Sources Fire-truck loudspeaker Lo cat r adio s tation ~ WDLC Central official (face-toface contact)
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3. Content of the denials: Five of the 136 denial messages .
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Returned home immediately after he aring fir st denial Returned after second denial Returned after third denial or more Returned after appreciable delay but after only one or two denials Information not obt ained ~ .
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From page 47... ...
5 per cent) returned after appreciable delay, but after having heard only one or two denial messages.
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TABLE 25 ATTITUDE TOWARDS DISASTER GROUPS Group Police Department Fire Department American Red Cross Other Groups Unspecified Groups I Advice to Others Approval Attitude Expressed Dis approval 14.
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From page 49... ...
In addition to those who fled, another 23 per cent of respondents who heard the false report were preparing for flight when they were stopped by receipt of the denial message. An analysis of the activities of those who fled shows us that they generally left immediately after receiving the first threat message.
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From page 50... ...
While threat messages were usually communicated in face-to-face contact with friends, family and strangers, the denial messages were broadcast through mass media such as loudspeaker systems and the local radio station.
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