Response to Discussion Post

On April 19, 1995, a truck bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal
Building in downtown Oklahoma City (Bullock, Haddow. & Coppola, 2013, 35). There
were 168 people killed in the attack, which included 19 children who were at a daycare
in the building. The Murrah building was destroyed and twenty five other buildings
were severely damaged or destroyed (Bullock, Haddow. & Coppola, 2013, 36). Three
hundred other buildings were damaged and 674 people were injured. Rescue and
recovery efforts lasted 16 days and involved 11 FEMA urban search and rescue teams
from across the country that assisted local and state search efforts. These teams
searched for survivors and bodies of victims.
Initially, rescuers from the Oklahoma City Fire Department entered the building not
knowing if it was stable and could continue to support its own weight (Bullock,
Haddow. & Coppola, 2013, 36). Within 5 hours, the first FEMA teams were deployed for
search and rescue. Eleven of the 27 FEMA task forces worked in the building and
coordinated with local fire departments, police departments, and military and federal
agencies during search and rescue efforts (Bullock, Haddow. & Coppola, 2013, 37).
Through this was re-stabilization efforts, rescuing trapped victims, and breaking
through concrete. A plan was developed to deal with psychological and emotional
issues of rescuers. Workers were debriefed by a plan in advance so they would be
aware of what they might see and experience in their efforts.
At the time of this bombing, Congress was debating the Nunn-Lugar-Dominici
legislation that was aimed at being better prepared for terrorist attacks (Bullock,
Haddow. & Coppola, 2013, 37). This legislation set up a primary authority and focus or
domestic federal preparedness. There were several agencies involved including
FEMA, the DOJ, and Department of Health and Human Services, DOD, and the
National Guard. These agencies had been pursuing their own agendas and previous
attempts at coordination were unsuccessful. State and local governments were
confused by the approach of the federal government and the federal government did
not recognize local vulnerabilities. Lack of communication led to interagency
disagreements in deciding who would be in charge of terrorism. It was unclear if the
effort should be led by fire or police departments, emergency management, or
emergency medical personnel.
In order to have effective communication, mitigation, preparedness, response, and
recovery components are needed (Bullock, Haddow. & Coppola, 2013, 585). There are
five assumptions that are necessary for effective disaster communication which
include customer focus, leadership commitment, inclusion of communications in
planning and operations, situational awareness, and media partnership.

Reference:
Bullock, J. A., Haddow, G. D. & Coppola, D. P. (2013). Introduction to
homeland security(5th ed.). Waltham, MA: Elsevier Inc.
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Personally, I believe that the level of inter-agency collaboration and cooperation during disaster management has increased than what it was when this incident happened over two decades ago. Legislations such as the Stafford Act and its several amendments have not only empowered FEMA but gave it clear directions on how response efforts would be coordinated by key participants at the federal, state and local level (Bullock, Haddow & Coppola, 2013, 225). However, the tendency for government agencies to use catastrophic events as propaganda tool for relevance and better funding needs to be jettisoned in the interest of putting people before………..

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