WTC Records Folder 0128 Disaster Information General label, 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Responding to Terrorism Victims - Oklahoma City and Beyond Page 2 of 6

remove trapped survivors and victims. In fact, throughout this rescue effort, the large outpouring of citizens and agency volunteers astonished veteran rescue workers.

The strong State and Federal Government presence in Oklahoma City helped the response-and-rescue effort. For example, immediately following the explosion, the Oklahoma City Fire Department set up an Incident Command System (ICS) to• manage the intensive search-and-rescue mission and massive influx of federal, state, local, and voluntary agency resources (Oklahoma Department of Civil Emergency Management, 1996). Also, working together, the local police department, the county sheriff, and state and federal agencies handled traffic and security. By 9:25 am, 23 minutes after the blast, the State Emergency Operations Center was operational and included representatives from the state departments of public safety, human services, military, health, and education. Soon joining these agencies were the National Weather Service, the Civil Air Patrol, and the American Red Cross (ARC).

Within an hour and a half of the bombing, President Clinton announced the signing of Emergency Declaration FEMA-3113—EM—OK under title V provisions of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act [PL 93-288]. This signing and declaration of emergency gave the Federal Government primary responsibility to respond to the disaster and authorized full reimbursement for all eligible response missions performed by state and local government.

President Clinton's declaration that Oklahoma City was a federal disaster area automatically triggered ARC to act as the lead agency in providing food, shelter, first aid, relief supplies, and welfare information. Approximately 665 rescue team members were sent immediately by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to Oklahoma City.

The swift response in Oklahoma City of public and private agencies at all levels of government demonstrated how critical it is for those agencies to work collaboratively in responding to the crisis created by a mass-casualty incident. This type of planning and coordination is just as critical to identifying and meeting the needs of victims.

Victim Support Services

The needs of victims and family members immediately following the bombing were acute and urgent. Some of the support services that were mobilized to assist victims came in the form of the Compassion Center (later becoming Project Heartland), the Resource Coordination Committee (Unmet Needs Committee), and crisis intervention.

Compassion Center

The Compassion Center (the Center), a family assistance center, was operational by 3:30 p.m. on the afternoon of the bombing. The Center, initially set up by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and the Oklahoma Funeral Directors

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

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