Question 2

Unfortunately, September 11, 2001 was not the first major terrorist attack that took place on U.S. soil. Prior to 9/11, several other bombings really hit American defenses hard, causing emergency response teams to test their logistics plans like no other way possible. The 1995 bombing damaged 324 buildings, injured 680 people, and killed 168 (Giordano 2002). It was a shocker across the nation, and many emergency response agencies were involved in the aftermath that followed.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency was in charge of the federal relief strategy directly after the bombings took place. FEMA worked with local agencies and law enforcement which were the very first on the scene to deal with the carnage. Efforts of local agencies proved incredibly enduring and efficient, with the bomber Timothy McVeigh being apprehended shortly after the bombing took place. The initial response from local authorities and emergency response teams was stellar, with dozens of people being rescued from damaged buildings within the first few hours.

Yet, there were a number of issues that presented themselves during the aftermath of the bombing that impacted the logistic strategies of the emergency response agencies. For example, there is the instance of a nurse who was on scene with a local...

This unfortunately shows that initial emergency responders on scene did fail to clear particular areas before attempting to rescue victims of the terrorist attacks. This endangers emergency workers, only adding on to the carnage of the initial terrorist event. Even worse, the time directly after the bombing was limited in terms of the support that could be offered by rescue workers because federal funding was late in the scene. The federal government did not provide much financial assistance at all, leaving Oklahoma City to take on the financial burden of the terrorist event. This made it difficult for state and city officials to be able to access the resources the really needed in order to respond at their highest level of affiance.