VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – From scuffles for free salt, to stealing sand from beaches, this winter weather seems to have brought out the worst in some people. And that same attitude is likely to prevail in the case of a more serious disaster or emergency like an earthquake.
Running out of salt may not seem like a huge issue, explains Dr. Joti Samra, but it can be enough to set off a trigger.
“Is salt an issue of survival at this moment? Absolutely not. But really, our brain starts to interpret even small threats as extreme, even dangerous triggers,” says Samra, a clinical psychologist in Vancouver.
She adds there can be a number of triggers in our day-to-day lives. “The vast majority of things that create stress and extreme responses for us are not life-threatening. It’s the way we’re wired as humans. Most of us can relate to going through our day-to-day life and feel like we’re responding in kind of extreme and unmatched ways.”
And that could easily be compounded under more severe emergency circumstances. “We sometimes engage in ways that are very different from what we might normally do. And what ends up getting triggered often is a fight or flight stress response. Some of the aggressive behaviour that we’re seeing is really a reflection of that fight response.”
Meaning once a certain mentality kicks in, it’s hard to reverse it. “What happens is we’re not very rational when it comes to stressful situations. It’s why we sometimes behave in ways that are very difficult to understand in hindsight or from an outsider’s perspective,” says Samra.
There have been pictures of families scooping sand from Vancouver’s beaches surfacing online, while NPA City Councillor Melissa De Genova is calling for an official inquiry into the City of Vancouver’s handling of the salt and ice fiasco.
Salt is once again being handed out at 10 Vancouver fire halls today.
Ten fire halls with free salt
Fire Hall #3 — 2801 Quebec St.
Fire Hall #4 — 1475 W. 10th Ave.
Fire Hall #7 — 1090 Haro St.
Fire Hall #12 — 2460 Balaclava St.
Fire Hall #13 — 4013 Prince Albert St.
Fire Hall #14 — 2804 Venables St.
Fire Hall #15 — 3003 E. 22nd Ave.
Fire Hall #17 — 7070 Knight St.
Fire Hall #19 — 4396 W. 12th St.
Fire Hall #22 — 1005 W. 59th Ave.
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