Social solidarity in an emergency : simulating a disaster

• Main Author: Muhammad Faisal Zainal Abiden
• Other Authors: Sulfikar Amir
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Sociology::Social behavior
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/66161
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Due to rarity of disasters, there has been little research done on the effects of disasters in Singapore. This paper attempts to examine the importance of Durkheim’s notion of social solidarity on behavioural responses in an emergency. The epistemological method employed to study this phenomenon is agent-based modelling. Social solidarity became the variable that was manipulated in the creation of two computer simulations representing two hypothetical scenarios, one where the population had low social solidarity, and the other, high social solidarity. The two simulations were run and observed. The findings conclude that low social solidarity leads to behavioural responses of panic and selfishness while high solidarity leads to an ordered and organised evacuation. With these findings, a theory of how Singaporeans would react to a large-scale disaster was formulated. The validity and effectiveness of agent-based modelling as an epistemological tool was also evaluated.