Running Head: 9/11 ATTACK 1

Multi-Agency Emergency Management Event of 9/11 Attack

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9/11 ATTACK 2

Multi-Agency Emergency Management Event of 9/11 Attack

Emergency preparedness is crucial as it assists in establishing pre-impact activities that

can be utilized in responding to extreme case events that in many ways can affect the lives of a

community. With emergency preparedness, an organization is capable of establishing readiness

required to mitigate the adverse impacts of an event either through enhanced responses providing

protection to the inhabitants or through the integral functioning of the physical structures as

discussed by Owen et al. (2013). Achieving the right preparedness for an emergency requires

planning, equipping, training, and putting the various skills into practice within an organization.

This implies that members of a particular organization must establish a basic plan and

appendices within their area of jurisdiction which then follows a given chain of command from

the various leaders commanding the various units involved. These commanders must see to it

that the various units are equipped with the facilities and materials required to support the

emergency response. Successful accomplishment of this task must follow a specific training that

can equip the members with the right skills for them to execute their duties as required.

The 9/11 attack event that occurred in 2001 was a serious event in the American history.

19 militants affiliated with Islamic group known as the Al-Qaeda hijacked four U.S airline and

used them to commit suicide attacks against their targets. Two planes flew towards the world

trade Centre in the New York City, the third plane was used to hit the Pentagon tower outside

Washington DC, and the last plane crashed in Pennsylvania. The attack led to massive death of

people approximately 3,000 and over 400 police officers as well as firefighters (History.com,

2010). The events began unfolding at 8:30 am in the morning of Tuesday. An American jet fuel

loaded with 20,000 gallons crashed into the World Trade Centre from a northern point of a strike

at the 80th floor. After some 18 minutes, another airline struck the same tower from the southern
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point on the 60th floor. The collision had a massive impact that it showered the neighboring

buildings with burning debris (History.com, 2010). The terrorists involved had various reasons

for the attack particularly, the involvement of the U.S. in the Persian Gulf war, its retaliation to

support Israel, and its continued military dominance in the middle east. As the events continued

to unfold in New York, another American Airlines slammed into the Pentagon tower at 9:45 am

from the western side. Eventually, the buildings collapsed due to the devastating inferno that was

caused by the jet fuel. Finally, a fourth California plane was hijacked some few minutes after

leaving the airport in New Jersey. Although the plane crashed in Pennsylvania at 10:10 am

killing all the people who were onboard, it was later rumored that the intended target of the plane

was White House, the Camp David presidential retreat or U.S capitol (History.com, 2010).

The various units of response involved particularly the police and the firefighters

displayed chains of command that showed several gaps in terms of efficacy. When the first

attack happened, the military groups disintegrated so as to help the situation which had now

escalated to beyond control (Owen et al., 2013). Other organs such as the FBIs, police,

firefighters, and police traffics were also called upon to control the situation. The shifts in the

firefighters seemed to change greatly as those who were off duty were also recalled. With

increased number of units flocking the scene, it became difficult to execute an effective action

that could hold the situation.

It is worth noting that every organization or a business unit needs to have its parts well

defined and known to everyone. Each unit must have its leader to avoid conflicts of command.

Organization events are seemingly important as it increases accountability among individuals as

well as the general flow of communication which return increases the operations safety and

coordination. With regards to this case, the emergency group led to an increase in a number of
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responding individuals in both the South and the North of the towers. Effective communication

became a challenge among the people who were rescuing the victims (Owen et al., 2013). As

things continued to escalate to worse conditions, it reached a point that the commander never

knew what was happening due to lack of communication. This was quite a difficult situation to

deal with, and therefore, as a result, increased number of deaths were recorded. There should be

a particular role pertinent to each department within an organization. If for instance, the number

of deaths of the officers occurred due to poor communication then the communication

department should be answerable to any question that would rise regarding the deaths.

Depending on the nature of the challenge there should be a particular role delegated to each

department to ensure that every nature of the challenge is addressed as required. Along with this

is the need to embrace a specific procedure of command regarding how to operate a particular set

up. The management should form the resources required by managers to address the various

challenges that would present at any particular time (Owen et al., 2013).

From another perspective of reasoning, the various units of response that reached the

scene had a common aim of offering the best they had for recognition. This only worsened the

situation as each unit followed its own sets of commands. With each commander viewing his/her

commands as superior confusion arose and contradiction which deviated the response units from

concentrating on the emergency at hand. As a result, internal conflicts and defiance arose thereby

necessitating the need for questioning the leadership theory utilized in the response strategy. It

was open that the leadership method could not work and therefore the ministry had to seek

another alternative that could ensure efficacy and rapidness in the actions presumed worth.

The leadership theory employed during the process followed a transformative theory. An

individual could be sent to the emergency scene, and upon arrival, the person could pay attention
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to the development and the concerns of individual organs present at the scene. Such a leader

changed the awareness of the followers regarding the issues at hand through helping embrace a

new way of looking at old problems as well as the impact of the attack to the U.S. However,

he/she failed to inspire and excite the followers to put in extra efforts to achieve a common goal.

The only positive change created involved the followers focusing more on their interests and the

interests of a particular group as a whole.

Planning for an emergency can only be successful if the units of response incorporate the

community around. The community around the scene should be made aware of the situation so

as to enhance their safety through locking them out of reaching the dangerous sites to avoid more

accidents. Failure to create awareness in the community can increase the difficulty in the

operations since everyone would be more curious to know what exactly is happening.

When new threats strike, they seem more chronic and disorganizing than the previous

ones. While responding to the threat, the people concerned fail to see the effectiveness of the

community. For instance, in 1995 there was some bombing event in Oklahoma City which by

then it was a home to a population of approximately half a million individuals. In a span of

fifteen minutes various personnel willing to help had flocked the scene beyond the carrying

capacity. Most of them were from the community around, and in less than an hour, they had

handled most of the injuries (Curnin et al., 2015). This implies that the community plays a

crucial role in responding to emergency scenarios and therefore they can always be counted on

as the first unit of response before the other units arrive.

The media is also not to be left out as they play a crucial role in disseminating

information pertaining to disaster and creating awareness of any eventuality that can occur.

When an emergency strikes, the media rush to the scene to capture the events and how the
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various units of response deal with the challenges. Nevertheless, the media never captures every

detail as the officer in charge prohibits fine coverage of the events. Thus, the leaders play a role

in giving the media the report to air for public viewing. At times, there occurs a conflict of

interest when the various leaders in the scene give contradicting information thereby

necessitating the media to embrace professionalism to retain reputation (Power & Alison, 2016).

Additionally, some leaders tend to influence the functioning of the media through denying them

a chance to access critical information or refusing to address the media in such extremities.

In the pursuit of dealing with any challenge that presents at any particular time, there

must be a need to encapsulate the ethical issues that would govern the operations successfully.

As far as multi-agency emergency management is concerned, some of the ethical issues

encountered would be how to assist the patients who have sustained multiple injuries to the point

of nearly dying. At times, it would be better for such patients to die rather than living with such

conditions. Other ethical issues would include professionalism and hostility in operations.
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References

Curnin, S., Owen, C., Paton, D., & Brooks, B. (2015). A theoretical framework for negotiating

the path of emergency management multi-agency coordination. Applied Ergonomics, 47,

300-307.

History.com, (2010). 9/11 Attacks - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com. HISTORY.com.

Retrieved 3 April 2017, from http://www.history.com/topics/9-11-attacks#

Owen, C., Bearman, C., Brooks, B., Chapman, J., Paton, D., & Hossain, L. (2013). Developing a

research framework for complex multi-team coordination in emergency management.

International Journal of Emergency Management, 9(1), 1.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/ijem.2013.054098

Power, N., & Alison, L. (2016). Offense or defense? Approach and avoid goals in the multi

agency emergency response to a simulated terrorism attack. Journal of Occupational and

Organizational Psychology.