Crisis Response Plans Post 9/11: Current Status and Future Directions
2009; Allied Academies; Volume: 8; Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1939-6104
AutoresAmy E. Hurley‐Hanson, Cristina M. Giannantonio,
Tópico(s)Disaster Management and Resilience
ResumoINTRODUCTION There have been a number of crises that have affected organizations during this decade. The events of September 11th, 2001 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 demonstrated that a majority of organizations' Crisis Response Plans (CRP) not adequate to respond to either man made or natural disasters of this magnitude. Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, killing 2,749 The attack resulted in severe economic impact, especially to airlines, and a stock market loss of $1.2 trillion. On Dec. 26, 2004, a tsunami from a 9.1 earthquake overran the shores of many countries along the vast rim of the Indian Ocean. Over 283,000 people died. On Aug. 29, 2005, Katrina, a category-5 hurricane, knocked out electric and communication infrastructure over 90,000 square miles ofLouisiana and Mississippi and displaced 1.5 million people. (Denning, 2006, p. 15). This past decade has been catastrophic, and there are still two more years to go. September 11, 2001 started off as a normal Tuesday morning at work. That changed at 8:46 a.m., the time at which the first plane crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. A day that started out normal for thousands of workers turned out to be the day that is now considered to be the worst terrorist attack ever launched on the United States. As a result, the attacks of 9/11 changed America, the work environment, and the workforce. It is estimated that 2,749 people died on September 11, 2001 in the World Trade Center attack. This includes 343 firefighters, 23 police officers, 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees, and 78 employees of the Windows of the World restaurant located at the top of the North Tower (Levitas, 2002). The people who killed that day were bond traders, chefs, firefighters, computer programmers, administrative assistants, custodians, vice presidents and flight attendants. (Caudon, 2004, p. 35). The attacks of 9/11 showed that innocent civilians performing their daily work routine can be victims of crises, including terrorism. The attacks not expected, and they not planned for. Ian Mitroff (2004) categorizes crises as abnormal accidents or normal accidents. Abnormal accidents include kidnappings, bombings, cyber or internet attacks (e.g. viruses), and any other attack or event that is performed out of betrayal or sabotage. Normal accidents include floods, earthquakes, human errors, and system breakdowns. While these events are not necessarily expected, organizations may better prepare for them than they do abnormal accidents. The events of 9/11 highlighted the need for organizations to prepare for abnormal accidents (Mitroff, 2004). Unfortunately, much of the knowledge corporations gained from dealing with the aftermath of the terrorist attacks was either forgotten or misused during the crisis following Hurricane Katrina. John Lawson (2005, p. 20), an official from Tulane University, recounts his experiences at Tulane, ... people too dispersed for post-disaster activity, which was exacerbated by the communications failure. couldn't get hold of people to find out where they were. I had my director of administrative computing evacuating to one city; my director of networking, who was supposed to go with me, ended up in a different city because of traffic. had people spread out all over. The level of security and safety that people felt towards their institutions, first challenged by the events of 9/11, was called into question by the planning incompetence exhibited by the Federal Emergency Relief Agency (FEMA) during Hurricane Katrina. We still have difficulty grasping the notion that we are not safe from disaster in our own country. couldn't imagine a foreign terrorist attack on our soil. It happened. couldn't imagine an entire city disappearing under water, its population evacuated--but too late. It happened. must begin to imagine future disasters, perhaps multiple catastrophes, for they, too, may well occur. …
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