Where Are the Emergency Responders? Spontaneous Volunteers in a Terrorist Attack

Abstract

This article explores the crucial actions of the heterogenous group of spontaneous volunteers during and after the 2011 Utøya terror attack in Norway, where a terrorist killed 69 people. In the research literature, the attack has been thoroughly studied in relation to the authorities’ and formal emergency responders’ management of the crisis, and lack thereof. However, the spontaneous volunteers who filled the gap following the inaction of official resources under and immediately after the attack, have received less research attention. This is paradoxical, given the impact their actions had on preventing the disaster from having even worse consequences. This study complements earlier research on disaster volunteers that often focuses on the actions of spontaneous volunteers from the perspective of formal emergency responders. Our findings suggest that the way citizens responded was not by adapting traditional command-and-control structures, but rather that they improvised to handle unmet needs in an emergent and autonomous form. The main factors central to their participation were their presence and available resources, which also made the actions of the spontaneous volunteers decisive when the emergency responders became active in the rescue operation. The efforts provided by spontaneous volunteers had significant emotional costs for them in the years after the attack. The study gives important contributions to considerations needed when whole-of-society concepts are adapted, both with regard to balancing resources and rationalities during rescue, and for follow-up of citizens who happen to be there when a disaster strikes.