September 2007: ORI presents at the State Street Corporation Annual Conference

September 26, 2007, Quincy, MA
ORI senior partner, Guy Sapirstein, was invited to present at the annual State Street Corporation conference for business units and select customers. This year's presentation focused on people's reactions during and after disasters. This presentation was based on years or research and experience by ORI principals working with people who were involved in large scale disasters all over the world.

The presentation was particularly poignant after the preceding presentation by Michael Brown, former FEMA director, who identified the psychological stress and trauma as most relevant to understanding the breakdown in the response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

In the presentation, Sapirstein focused on the long term impact of disasters on individuals and organizations. Since most efforts are focused on the short term emergency response, many people continue to experience the effects of the disaster long after the initial humanitarian support has long gone.

Reviewing crowd behavior during crisis and life threatening situations, he noted that contrary to popular myths, people tend to help each other rather than panic and discussed issues important to evacuation planning and crisis communication.

Organizational Resilience International, LLC
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