WEEKLY NEWS 1: FEMA Coordinates Recovery Effort

By JAKE LAUER (Click here to read about the writer)
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire

Minutes after the first hijacked commercial airliner smashed into the World Trade Center Tuesday morning, nearly 50 federal officials flooded the Mezzanine Floor of the Washington-based Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate a nationwide recovery and response effort.

Per the Federal Response Plan, employees from 28 federal agencies converged on FEMA’s National Interagency Emergency Operations Center, just blocks from Capitol Hill.

By 4 pm Tuesday, FEMA had dispatched 12 Urban Search and Rescue teams to the sites of the apparent terrorist attacks; eight teams to the World Trade Center and four to the Pentagon.

The teams, each comprised of 62 agents armed with 62,000 pounds of equipment, were mobilized to aid in the physical search and rescue operations, provide emergency medical care for victims and stabilize the damaged structures, according to a FEMA statement.

Hailing from points throughout the country, the teams, self-sustainable for 72 hours, rushed toward their destinations mostly by ground. A few, however, including three teams from California, boarded military aircraft bound for Washington or New York.

The effort joined representatives from, among others, the Department of Defense, The Salvation Army and Red Cross, according to a FEMA spokesman. The NIEOC was last activated during Hurricane Allison in June

“We never panic, we’re professionals,” he said.

INFO BOX:

Urban Search and Rescue Teams by state:

To New York City:
Massachusetts Task Force 1
Ohio Task Force 1
Missouri Task Force 1
Pennsylvania Task Force 1
Indiana Task Force 1
California Task Forces 1, 6 and 7

To Pentagon:
Virginia Task Force 1 and 2
Maryland Task Force 1
Tennessee Task Force 1
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Read WEEKLY NEWS 2: Travellers Get Nowhere