WTC Records Folder 0128 Disaster Information General label, 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Responding to Terrorism Victims - Oklahoma City and Beyond Page 5 of 6

with funerals. These delays were unavoidable and not unique to the Oklahoma City bombing case, but it was critical that victims' families received adequate explanations for delays in notification and the release of bodies, including information about the legal requirement to conduct autopsies in all homicide cases. When some families objected to the autopsy process, counselors explained the importance of the autopsy in collecting important evidence and in answering any questions families may have in the future about the cause of death. In addition, as many surviving family members looked back later, they regretted taking the advice of several officials who recommended that they not view the bodies of their loved ones.

For some families, the fact that the official death notifications took place at the Compassion Center created an additional hardship. Some families indicated they would ve preferred to be notified in their homes. Other families objected to the practice of designating funeral home directors to notify families rather than using clergy to handle this responsibility. The presence of funeral home directors at the Compassion Center and priests arriving to give last rites was disconcerting to many family members who were still waiting for news of their loved ones. As in other mass-casualty events where significant destruction to the bodies of victims happens, unidentified or "common" body tissue results. In the case of Oklahoma City, families waited until December 1999 for a memorial service and interment of the common tissue due to a judicial order delaying burial until attorneys settled legal evidence questions and until the victims had the opportunity to voice their intentions about how and where the remains were to be buried?

Donations of Services and Supplies

In the aftermath of the bombing, the donations for victims and rescue workers from organizations and individuals were overwhelming. Donations poured in from fellow Oklahomans and from citizens across the Nation. Citizens donated approximately $14 million to the Oklahoma City Disaster Relief Fund. Storage and inventory control of the massive amounts of contributions left at drop-off locations became a major logistical problem. Nearby streets were crowded with private cars, commercial tractor-trailers, pickup trucks, and other vehicles loaded with goods ranging from wheelbarrows to football helmets. ARC received $15 million for its relief work with the bombing victims (Kriner, April 20, 2000). Later, special purpose funds—such as the fund for victims' travel to Denver—also attracted generous contributions from private citizens, corporations, and a huge range of organizations, large and small.

The creation of the Murrah Fund by the state legislature was necessary to allow the Oklahoma Crime Victim Compensation Program to accept public and private donations that would assist the victims and provide additional flexibility to the program to pay lost wages and cover grief counseling for family members of the victims. In addition to using $129,363 in state funds to assist victims with medical

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/infores/respterrorism/chap2.html 9/29/01

NYC-WTC 000137317