Disasters are part of the human condition, but survival is not just a product of luck. According to Amanda Ripley, author of the survival guide “The Unthinkable,” you can do far more than you think to improve your odds of preventing and surviving even the most horrendous of catastrophes.

The following stories are excerpted from Ripley’s excellent TIME article and include advice gleaned from people who survived disasters.

Avoid Freezing Up

On Sept. 28, 1994, the huge automobile ferry M.V. Estonia went down in the Baltic Sea. Kent Härstedt, now a member of Sweden‘s Parliament, was then a 29-year-old passenger.

That night he was hanging out in one of the ship‘s bars, with about 50 other passengers. Just after 1 a.m., the Estonia suddenly flipped on its side, hurling passengers about the bar. Härstedt managed to grab on to the iron bar railing and hold on, hanging above everyone else.

As Härstedt fought to make his way into a corridor, he noticed that some people were just sitting there. Entire groups seemed to be immobilized.

This happens in many disasters. Panic is rare. The bigger problem is that people do too little, too slowly. They sometimes shut down completely.

At 1:50 a.m., the Estonia sank. Moments before, Härstedt had jumped off the ship. He climbed onto a life raft and held on for five hours, until he was rescued.

We All Have Our Role to Play

On May 28, 1977, one of the deadliest fires in the U.S. broke out at a place called the Beverly Hills Supper Club, a labyrinth of dining rooms, ballrooms, fountains and gardens located 5 miles south of Cincinnati. There were nearly 3,000 people packed into the club on that Saturday night. The fire killed 167 of them.

Much of people’s actions were determined by whether they saw themselves as responsible or not. An estimated 60 percent of the employees tried to help in some way. By comparison, only 17 percent of the guests helped.

Servers warned their tables to leave. Hostesses evacuated people that they had seated. Cooks and busboys rushed to fight the fire. Some guests, however, continued celebrating. One man ordered a rum and Coke to go.

Darla McCollister got married earlier that evening at the gazebo in the garden. Still in her wedding dress, she ushered her guests outside. She felt responsible for them.

One Person, Like You, CAN Make a Difference

When the planes struck the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, Rick Rescorla, the head of security for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter at the World Trade Center, got Morgan Stanley employees to take responsibility for their survival -- which happened almost nowhere else that day in the Trade Center.

Rescorla had long felt it was foolish to rely on first responders to save his employees. Morgan Stanley‘s employees would need to take care of one another. He had ordered them not to listen to any instructions from the Port Authority in a real emergency, and run the entire company through frequent, surprise fire drills.

On the morning of 9/11, Rescorla heard an explosion and saw the other tower burning from his office window. A Port Authority official came over the P.A. system and urged people to stay at their desks. Rescorla grabbed his bullhorn, walkie-talkie and cell phone and began systematically ordering Morgan Stanley employees to get out. Well-drilled, they performed beautifully.