BONDED FATALITIES

Abstract

I build on previous findings in disaster research with a quantitative examination of individual-level fatality risk in a fire evacuation. Using data concerning people who were present at the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire of 1977, I show that the probability of an individual perishing in the fire was a function of the relational and ecological properties of their evacuation environment. Logistic regression analyses suggest that individuals for whom at least one group member died experienced a drastic increase in fatality risk. Physical threats and situational constraints in the environment distributed fatality across blocks of people, which were defined largely by primary group membership. This effect is due, in part, to the strengths of the social bonds that these individuals had to group members who perished.

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