I've been watching some of the footage from Houston and am in awe of some of the ordinary citizens getting out there and helping with the rescue.
(Thankfully) I've never been in a severe crisis situation, but I often wonder how I'd react; whether I'd panic or step up to help?
I'm terribly squeamish about blood and bodies and have no special skills other than some basic first aid.
The only small incident I was involved with as a helper was when two cars had a collision on a country road near me. I was first on the scene in one direction and there was a man coming from th either direction too. We both stopped (road was blocked anyway!)
The drivers of the collided cars weren't visibly hurt, but obviously shocked. One was a Japanese lady (only relevant to mention as she didn't speak much English) who was following her satnav and just drove straight out at a junction, ignoring the give way sign!
The guy in the car she'd driven into was already on his phone to the police and the guy in the car behind set up a red warning triangle further down the road.
The Japanese lady was wandering around the road holding her chest (her airbag had gone off so she probably had some bruising?), so I led her to my car (which was off the road) and got her to sit in the front seat while I tried to find out who I could call for her/helped her call her friend who was local.
Police and a paramedic arrived after about 10 minutes and took over.
Police took a brief statement about what I'd witnessed and thanked me for stopping. I then drove on to work for about another 20 mins. Thought I was fine, but when I arrived in the office I was shaking Andy a bit shocked I think.
Not sure how I'd have reacted if there had been blood and more serious injuries though 