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The 'Titanic Syndrome': Risk and Crisis Management on the Costa Concordia

  • David E. Alexander
Published/Copyright: August 31, 2012
Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
From the journal Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Volume 9 Issue 1

Abstract

The wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise liner on 13th January 2012 on the Italian island of Giglio provides an interesting example of risk and crisis management in relation to maritime disasters. Although only 32 of the 4,252 people aboard died, the wreck may prove to be the most expensive loss of a passenger liner to date, and with only slight changes in circumstances it could also have involved heavy loss of life. This paper reconstructs the sequence of events before, during and immediately after the event. It considers the disaster in terms of the new paradigm of forensic disaster investigation and the established discipline of organizational learning theory. The paper considers how real-time management of the crisis affected the evacuation of passengers, staff and crew from the liner. In this process, normalcy bias and distraction on the bridge reduced the opportunities for timely and efficient muster and departure. A web of contributory causes is formulated, and it is concluded that, as in many other large, complex events, no single factor emerges as dominant and the disaster resulted from systemic failures as much as from human error. Comparisons with other well-known maritime disasters indicate that the Costa Concordia incident had various key elements in common with them. In mid-January 2012, some long-standing lessons therefore remained unlearned.

Keywords: Costa Concordia; cruise liner; maritime disasters; Italy; shipwreck; evacuation; risk management; forensic disaster investigation; organisational learning
Published Online: 2012-8-31

©2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/1547-7355.1998
Keywords for this article
Costa Concordia; cruise liner; maritime disasters; Italy; shipwreck; evacuation; risk management; forensic disaster investigation; organisational learning

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Research Article
  2. Use of Small-Scale Test Data to Enhance Fire-Related Threat, Vulnerability, Consequence and Risk Assessment for Passenger Rail Vehicles
  3. Strategic Cyber Defense: Which Way Forward?
  4. Effect of a Marketing Program on Freshman Student Registration for an Emergency Notification System
  5. Strategic uses of Lessons for Building Collaborative Emergency Management System: Comparative Analysis of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Gustav Response Systems
  6. The Relationship between Turkey's Provinces' Development Levels and Social and Economic Vulnerability to Disasters
  7. A Review of the Key Legal dynamics of Chinese Military Involvement in Domestic Disaster Relief (MI/DDR)
  8. Testing Social Vulnerability Theory: A Quantitative Study of Hurricane Katrina's Perceived Impact on Residents living in FEMA Designated Disaster Areas
  9. If You Can't Trust, Stick to Hierarchy: Structure and Trust as Contingency Factors in Threat Assessment Contexts
  10. Regional Disaster Risk: Assessment and Mitigation Concepts in an All-Hazards Context
  11. Evacuation Patterns of Ethnic Groups Under Fire
  12. Risk Informed Decision Framework for Integrated Evaluation of Countermeasures against CBRN Threats
  13. The Influence of Politics on Federal Disaster Declaration Decision Delays
  14. Cross-Sectoral Scanning of Critical Infrastructures: from Functional Differences to Policy-Relevant Similarities
  15. Identifying Communication Strategies in Cases of Domestic Terrorism: Applying Cultural Context to the Fort Hood Shooting
  16. The Evolving Role of the Public Information Officer: An Examination of Social Media in Emergency Management
  17. Structural Dynamics of Organizations during the Evolution of Interorganizational Networks in Disaster Response
  18. Investigating the Roots of Crisis Management Studies and Outlining Future Trajectories for the Field
  19. The Multiplicity of Actors Involved in Securing America's Food Imports
  20. Homeland Security as International Security? The Case for International Relations as Disciplinary Model
  21. Challenges for Multi-sector Organizations in Tracking and Sheltering Registered Sex Offenders in Disasters
  22. Communicating H1N1 Risk to College Students: A Regional Cross-Sectional Survey Study
  23. Cultural Influence on the Implementation of Incident Command System for Emergency Management of Natural Disasters
  24. Influencing Factors of Emergency Information Spreading in Online Social Networks: A Simulation Approach
  25. Responding in Crises: A Comparative Analysis of Disaster Responses between Mainland China and Taiwan
  26. Updating the National Planning Scenarios: Using Wicked Problems and Capability-Based Planning Concepts for Homeland Security
  27. The 'Titanic Syndrome': Risk and Crisis Management on the Costa Concordia
  28. Book Reviews
  29. Review of Freedom and Order: How Democratic Governments Restrict Civil Liberties after Terrorist Attacks - and Why Sometimes They Don't
  30. Review of National Security Reform: How Commissions Can Drive Change During Crises
  31. Review of The Four Stages of Highly Effective Crisis Management
  32. Communication/News
  33. Public Health's Role in Understanding Community Resilience
  34. Identifying Factors that Influence Terrorist Decisions and Target Selection
  35. Opinion
  36. Emerging Dangers from Direct Botulinum Access and Use
  37. Failing to Establish a Unified Command in Louisiana During Hurricane Katrina
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