One of the first things to do if you come on an emergency is to either call 911 (or insert appropriate emergency number here) yourself, or direct someone specif

One of the first things to do if you come on an emergency is to either call 911 (or insert appropriate emergency number here) yourself, or direct someone specific to do it. "You. Do you have a cell phone? Call 911." It's quite common to discover that even with a decent sized crowd around an event, nobody has actually called emergency services, because everyone assumes someone else has done it. Better to annoy the 911 operator with "Are you calling about the XYZ at the corner of A and B? Yes? Already reported, emergency services are on the way." than to have nobody contact anyone. Humans in emergencies are weird. I absolutely agree. And in the context of this article, were the floor buckling, I'd be making haste to get myself and everyone else who would listen out of there ASAP. Nothing good comes of this sort of progressive failure.