Holiday over? No way. Tourists want to sunbathe, even when thick clouds of smoke float over the mountains behind them. They remain lying on the beach, or, if necessary, in a bikini on the steps of the reception center for evacuees – images of them went around the world.
And although most tourists are eager to go home because of the forest fires on Rhodes, there are also holidaymakers at Schiphol ready to go. For example, travel organization Sunweb will fly to the north of the island as usual from Tuesday, where it is a great place to be, according to the Dutch. It’s just a pity that the power is always off, they posted on social media, because a distribution point elsewhere has gone up in flames. They sit in the restaurant in the twilight.
Everyone deals with a disaster differently. You rarely see blind panic. Only in case of imminent and serious danger, and when people have almost no chance of escape. But in most disasters, says Michel Dückers, professor by special appointment of Crisis, Safety and Health at the University of Groningen, people react pragmatically, rationally. “Especially the perception of the threat is important: will the disaster affect you personally?”
Also read this article: People in swimwear flee from the fire on Rhodes
Loss aversion
Dückers has also been fascinated by the images on Rhodes in recent days, but he can quite understand the reactions. “Many tourists apparently do not feel a threat themselves, so why would they cut short their holiday?”
Such a choice sometimes also has to do with loose aversion – our ‘aversion to loss’. “People find it very difficult to accept loss, especially if that loss is a certainty,” says Paul van Lange, professor of psychology at VU University Amsterdam. “When you leave you know for sure that your holiday is over. Then many people prefer to take the risk. ‘Let’s see it for a while’, you hear.’”
Rather wait than take a loss – even if the island is on fire. The comparison with the climate crisis is quickly made. Van Lange conducts research into behavioral change in times of climate change and sees that loss aversion also plays a role. “No meat at all is too much to ask for many.” Moreover, the climate crisis is a collective problem and more abstract than a forest fire. “That makes behavioral change even more difficult.”
Perception is especially important: will the disaster affect you personally?
Michel Duckers extraordinary professor
On the other hand, the forest fires in Rhodes and Corfu fall under the heading ‘flash disasters’. An acute disaster, comparable to a plane crash. No discussion about the seriousness. Quite different from a latent disaster such as the climate crisis. Or the asylum crisis. Or the Supplementary Affair. Such a disaster usually starts with a feeling that something is not right. And then there are more and more signals, and gradually more and more people see the problem.
“But something like this can smolder for a very long time before everyone really sees the urgency,” says Dückers, who has done a lot of research into the impact of the gas extraction problem – another type of disaster – on Groningen residents. “Powerful images” are important, says Dückers. They make a threat urgent and can set something in motion.
Slumbering disasters
However, such images are lacking for latent disasters, “which makes it so difficult to see the urgency of a latent disaster.” And to want to recognize it, says Dückers. “A latent disaster often crosses all kinds of interests, people prefer not to see it.”
Until there is no escaping it and the slumbering disaster briefly shows its ‘flash’. Tents in Ter Apel. Cracks in a Groningen wall. Parents in debt. And perhaps also forest fires on a holiday island full of Dutch tourists, as a result of a changing climate.
Not everyone can continue to sunbathe.
Also read this article: Rhodes travelers are back home after a day and a half: ‘We smelled death’
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper on July 25, 2023.