[setr]

It doesn't seem to me that the issue was bureaucracy, but the extreme scale of the event and the complete lack of preparation regarding it. And to a degree, the arrogance of teachers who should have realized they didn't know what to do given the useless manual.

It was bureaucracy that stopped them from going to hill... but thats simply because the bureaucracy was doing what it does to stop panic and chaos. In a situation where the event was prepared for, having a small group of kids yelling orders and running off is exactly what you don't want. You don't want conflicting orders running around; else (if the bureaucracy judged correctly, and went to the hill), you'll end up with a group of kids and teachers or parents not following orders and staying in the school instead.