NCJ Number
199566
Date Published
August 2002
Length
37 pages
Annotation
This document discusses the emergency services that were implemented after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Abstract
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) activated 25 of its 28 national Urban Search and Rescue task forces in response to the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. This was the largest deployment in United States history. The Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service Incident Management Team (IMT) was dispatched to Ground Zero by FEMA under the Federal response plan. FEMA’s Disaster Assistance Employees were dispatched to address the needs of those left behind at the Pentagon location. Somerset County (Pennsylvania) Department of Emergency Services, along with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, coordinated resources needed by the contingent of workers at the plane crash site in Somerset County. Volunteers helped in countless ways, including clearing debris and stocking and dispensing emergency supplies. FEMA’s Disaster Assistance Service Center in downtown Manhattan aided displaced workers and families. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of the New York and New Jersey district directed ferry boats to transport 3,000 people to their homes, mapped a strategy to remove massive amounts of steel and debris from Ground Zero, and established an effective process for managing the debris inspection from the World Trade Center. The New York Police Department’s elite Emergency Services Unit provided supplies to officers doing search and rescue operations. FEMA’s Public Assistance program granted funds to the New York City Board of Education for environmental cleaning in city schools and for air quality testing inside schools. The Mortgage and Rental Assistance program assisted those in need of help and eligible for assistance. The Small Business Administration helped business owners get back to work. Project Liberty, the largest federally funded crisis-counseling program in history, provided free crisis counseling to individuals, families, and groups affected by the attack on the World Trade Center. FEMA and the Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration put in motion a plan that will give New York and New Jersey commuters a much-needed, state-of-the-art transportation system.