How to survive a disaster on Solar News

MANILA, Philippines - With accidents and disasters happening everywhere, could science really help us survive? Can we really cheat death?

Using dramatic archive footage and vivid eyewitness testimony, Know How to Survive a Disaster enters the moments when our decisions could mean the difference between life and death, busting myths, uncovering practical tips and revealing what happens in our brains in times of crisis.

From plane crashes to the towering inferno of a hotel fire, the film talks to the experts whose research could be a lifesaver — revealing not just what they recommend, but what they actually do themselves.

Fire evacuation expert Ed Galea never checks into a hotel room above the 11th floor where he would be out of the reach of fire-fighters, always sits in a rear-facing seat when he boards a train and keeps a torch and smoke hood by his bed at night. Helen Muir, whose research on evacuations helps aircraft manufacturers design their cabins, always mentally rehearses how she would get out following a crash landing as soon as she takes her seat on a plane and even makes a point of looking for the exits when she goes to the cinema.

As well as delivering practical advice, the film meets the scientists who have devoted their lives to making sure the unthinkable never happens in the first place — from advanced driving courses to the best way to give CPR — still a hot area of research.

Finally, the film takes a journey into the mind, to reveal what happens in our brains when we come face to face with death. Discover how we really assess danger and why we get it wrong; how evolution has hard-wired us to be terrified by sharks even though we’re almost never likely to be attacked by one; and why it took some office workers more than half an hour to leave their desks in the World Trade Centre on 9/11. The film delves deep into the psyche to discover how we can prime our brains for survival.

Know How to Survive a Disaster airs tonight at 8 on Solar News Channel.