by Stephen Pate

Created on: December 23, 2009

Should the government be obligated to rescue people who ignore evacuation warnings in natural disasters?  No, they shouldn’t be obligated.  If people choose to ignore evacuation warnings, we should not put our civil servants at risk because of a few people who are either too arrogant or too stubborn to evacuate when required.

This is for, of course, natural disasters in which warnings for them can come quickly enough.  This is mostly hurricanes, but can also include floods and fires.  Some natural disasters just don’t apply, such as earthquakes and tornadoes, which pop up before any evacuation warning can be given.

But for those few natural disasters in which people have a reasonable amount of time to evacuate, the civil servicemen should not put themselves at risk.  Many civil servants, such as policemen and firemen, already put their lives on the line every night.  They should not have their lives risked in even more dangerous times such as when a natural disaster is impending or even occurring at that moment.

Disaster rescue is just as dangerous to the emergency responders as it is to those stranded in the disaster.  Responders are at risk as much as those they rescue.  So every time they rescue a person during a disaster, they are putting their life at risk.  So every one less person that evacuates is one less time a responder is risking his life.

That’s why it’s so important for people to heed evacuation warnings.  They need to think not just of their own person, but also those who will have to rescue them.  To do otherwise is selfishness to an incredible degree.  This is why those who can evacuate should do so when they are called upon to do so.

On the other hand, you’re always going to get those who do not hear about the evacuation warnings, and so do not know that they should be heeded.  This happens often with the elderly, who can very easily lose touch with current events unless someone informs them.  While television and internet access is prevalent in our country, it is nowhere near universal.

This is why local governments need to have plans for operating when a natural disaster is impending.  When a disaster is on it’s way, law enforcement should go door-to-door to provide evacuation notices in those areas.  They should also ask if the residents need transportation and shelter out of the evacuation area.  This is for the benefit of

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