Weekly Online Lesson Online Lesson Archive Grade Level: 8-12 Subject: Multidisciplinary

9-1-1: Response, Rescue and Recovery

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the United States suffered the worst attack on its civilian residents in the country's history. Official reports say a number of terrorists hijacked several commercial airplanes. The immediate results were two planes crashing into New York City's twin World Trade Center Towers, another plane cutting into the Pentagon building in the Washington, D.C. area, and a fourth crashing down in rural Pennsylvania just east of Pittsburgh. Rescue and recovery efforts began immediately by firefighters, police officers, and others - helping the survivors and searching for more among the remains of the buildings and aircrafts.

Although this surprise attack that may have killed and injured thousands of people is a tremendous tragedy, it certainly isn't the first disaster that American rescue and emergency workers have had to face. In this week's lesson, you'll learn about some of the agencies that respond to these kinds of situations and how they work.

Emergency Management

The first responders to the various plane crash sites were, of course, local fire and police departments. However, due to the extent of the disaster, a federal agency, called the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), also reported for duty at the sites to oversee and coordinate rescue and recovery efforts.

FEMA was created in 1803 by Congress as an agency that would be responsible for managing national disasters. Read more about the History of FEMA and how previous disasters in the country affected the development of this agency. Also review the outline of the National Response Plan, a strategy to help manage the often chaotic and stressful situations of large scale disasters. What exactly is the agency's job? Why is it important to have a designated management agency for these kinds of events? Another plan, specifically regarding terrorism - called the Terrorism Incident Annex, describes how the country's government agencies, and especially FEMA,are directed to respond to these kinds of attacks. What other agencies are involved in the implementation of this plan and why?

The Red Cross

The American Red Cross (ARC) was another group of recovery workers at the disaster sites this week. Although not a government agency, it has been given some authority by Congress to provide emergency and recovery relief across the country as needed. Read some Facts about the organization and about its Disaster Services. What do these workers do to help people in these situations? How are they funded and staffed? Also read about how they helped with the recent tragedy in the ARC's article, Red Cross Begins First Day of National Recovery. What do you think recovery would be like without Red Cross assistance?

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