What It Takes to Survive a Disaster

We all like to think that we’d be good in a crisis — that in the case of a fire, a threat, or a natural disaster, we would stay calm and do whatever we had to in order to make it out in one piece.

But until you’ve actually faced a life-threatening situation, it’s hard to know how you — or your body — will react. Will the racing thoughts, pounding heart, and surging stress hormones fuel acts of daring and heroism — or paralysis? Who makes it out alive when disaster strikes? What are the qualities and strategies that help us through the worst situations?

On this episode: What it takes to survive. We hear the incredible story of Juliane Koepcke, who survived a plane crash as a teenager — only to face a harrowing journey through the Peruvian Amazon in search of help. We learn about the “Third Man Factor,” a phenomenon in which people in life-threatening situations experience visions of what some would call guardian angels. And we talk with a journalist who’s covered some of the biggest disasters in recent memory about how we’re wired to behave in emergencies, and what it takes to save your own life.

SHOW NOTES:

• On Christmas morning in 1971, 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke woke up deep in the jungle, injured, in shock, and utterly alone. She was the sole survivor of a plane crash that had dumped her in the Peruvian Amazon — and now she would have to find her way to safety all by herself. Writer Ellen Cochrane documented Koepcke’s incredible, 11-day journey back to civilization in her new book, “Follow the Water: The Unbelievable True Story of a Teenager’s Survival in the Amazon.”
• We talk with journalist and lifelong adventurer John Geiger about the “Third Man Factor,” a phenomenon in which people in extreme, often life-threatening situations find themselves being helped and guided by a mysterious presence. Geiger’s book is “The Third Man Factor: Surviving the Impossible.”
• Journalist Amanda Ripley has spent decades covering disasters, ranging from plane crashes to natural disasters. After interviewing hundreds of survivors and experts, she  breaks down the three stages of how we respond to disasters, what they say about how we’re wired, and the strategies that help people survive. Her book is “The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes — and Why?”