The Day I Evacuated at the Cinema, and the Crisis Management of "Escaping First"

It was while I was watching "The Devil Wears Prada 2" for the second time at a shopping mall cinema.
In the middle of the movie, the screen suddenly went blank, the playback stopped, the lights came on, and a recorded automated announcement began to play.

"There is a fire. Please evacuate. There is a fire."

My mind, which had been absorbed in the movie, was suddenly pulled back to reality, and for a moment I was confused, but I quickly reminded myself that it was an announcement to evacuate, so I grabbed my belongings and promptly left the theater.

It was good that no one panicked in this situation, but there was something that bothered me a little.
Perhaps because they couldn't grasp the situation, there were quite a few people who were looking around as if to say, "Huh? It's okay, right?" and were reluctant to move.

At the very least, in a closed space like a theater, it would be wiser to escape quickly since you don't know the situation.
In fact, I think there are many cases where fire alarms are false alarms. But what if it really was a fire and something terrible was happening?
While you are dawdling, you might find yourself unable to escape by the time you realize it.

A sense of crisis is very important for protecting your life.
I believe that when you think there might be a possibility that something dangerous is happening, you should be agile and escape immediately.

When working in the field of development cooperation in developing countries, I receive briefings on safety management and am required to take training courses.

For example, what if you encounter a terrorist attack? What if you are robbed?
I have heard countless terrifying stories of things that actually happened for a long time.
In anti-terrorism training, I was taught which seats are most likely to be targeted if a restaurant is attacked, and where to escape from.
Perhaps because of that, even when I eat at restaurants in Japan, I sometimes find myself thinking about the location of safe seats.
But I think that always being aware of "what if something happens" can sometimes save your life.

Although terrorist attacks rarely happen in this country (of course, it is not zero), in reality, you never know what will happen where in the world. And fires can happen in your immediate vicinity at any time.

If you have even a fleeting thought that "it would be embarrassing to have escaped when it was a false alarm," I want you to discard that thought. If you follow instructions and escape, and it turns out nothing happened, you can just say, "Oh, I'm glad we're safe."

The incident at the cinema this time was a false alarm caused by a fire alarm reacting in the parking lot inside the shopping mall.
The cinema staff guided the customers calmly while running around. In the hallway space outside the theater, all the audience members waited quietly for about 10 minutes as instructed by the staff, albeit with a bit of anxiety.

However, even while waiting, I kept checking the location of the exit in the back of my mind.

Once safety was confirmed, everyone returned to the theater, and the interrupted movie screening was resumed in order.

100 Essays Project (Started September 2023)
[92/100]