UNT study: Private businesses played vital role in WTC disaster response

Many Americans viewing television coverage of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center may have assumed that the city and state of New York, other government organizations, and nonprofit organizations such as the Red Cross provided most of the emergency response and recovery following the disaster.

Private businesses, however, also made significant contributions following the disaster — more so than in natural disasters, says David McEntire, assistant professor of public administration and emergency administration and planning.

"The World Trade Center disaster was unique because a business district was the predominant affected area," he says. "A hurricane usually doesn't target a business district. The Fort Worth tornado in 2000 impacted not just businesses, but also government offices and residential areas."

McEntire and two other researchers in UNT's emergency administration and planning degree program — Robie Robinson, assistant professor, and Rich Weber, professional development coordinator — traveled to New York City two weeks after the World Trade Center disaster to study the responses of businesses. They also wanted to determine if emergency management plans set in place for businesses following the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center were effective eight years later. Their research was supported by a National Science Foundation Quick Response Grant, distributed by the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado.

During the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, evacuation of the tower where the bomb was took 11 hours, with workers walking down stairwells that were dark because of a power failure, McEntire says.

"People also didn't know how to leave. In the buildings, you couldn't just walk all the way down one stairwell. You sometimes had to stop on one floor and go across it to another stairwell," he says. "After the 1993 bombing, the exit routes were lit with backup generators in case of power failures, and some stairwells were expanded. Businesses also had training to educate employees about how to evacuate."

As a result, though more than 2,800 people in both World Trade Center towers were killed on Sept. 11, thousands of workers exited safely before both towers collapsed, he says.

McEntire says he was surprised by the extent of involvement of private businesses in responding to the Sept. 11 World Trade Center disaster. "They performed so many vital roles and really interacted with the government more than we thought they would," he says.

He says businesses responded almost as soon as the airplanes crashed into the towers. New York City officials immediately decided to relocate the city's emergency operations center, which had been located in Building 7 of the center before the terrorist attacks.

"This proved to be a wise decision because the collapse of the North Tower damaged World Trade Center 7 and resulted in the building being gutted by fire," he says.

Businesses donated office space at Pier 92 on the Hudson River and provided computers, printers and fax machines, while utility companies established phone lines for the new emergency operations center.

Businesses also assisted in increasing security in New York City, particularly at government buildings, McEntire says.

"The local government had an existing program and schedule for installing retractable and removable metal and concrete barriers in front of buildings, but there was a desire to speed up the process," he says. "Local officials contacted Secure USA within two weeks after Sept. 11 to speed up the installation. The public sector relied heavily upon this business to increase security."

Another business, National Rent a Fence, provided barriers around Ground Zero following the collapse of the towers. Local restaurants provided bulk orders of food for the search and rescue teams.

"The staff for food preparation and delivery was largely made up of volunteers from the food service industry who wanted to do something to help with the response," McEntire says.

Private businesses also helped to restore communications in downtown New York City, which were disrupted following the collapse of the World Trade Center because the center provided 10 cellular telephone antennas, he says.

"A communications company provided cell phones for emergency workers, government officials, disaster victims and anyone else who needed to make a call. The company also brought in charging units and established several portable cell towers to meet the demand near Ground Zero," McEntire says.

Approximately 20 million square feet of office space — about the size of Atlanta's central business district — was lost during the World Trade Center disaster. Within days after Sept. 11, many businesses that had been located in the center began reopening their offices, an important part of the recovery process, McEntire says.

Other private businesses stepped in to provide office space.

"In several cases, competitors of the displaced businesses opened their offices and shared space to help speed the recovery process," he says. "Temporary offices were also created in hotel rooms throughout the city, and a chamber of commerce organization helped some offices relocate."

McEntire points out preparation for a possible disaster determined how quickly the World Trade Center businesses recovered.

"Five to 40 percent of businesses fold after any disaster," he says. "In the World Trade Center disaster, some companies had no backup computer disks of data, or their backup disks were in another location in the World Trade Center. These companies lost lists of clients and work orders. Companies that had backup data at sites other than the World Trade Center only lost what was on their computers or desks in their offices."

The events of Sept. 11 illustrated the need for businesses to take disaster preparedness and prevention seriously, McEntire says.

"There is a great likelihood of future terrorist attacks and more devastating natural disasters affecting businesses," he says.

Large companies, he says, usually have one or more employees involved in emergency management, with the titles of safety manager, risk manager or business continuity specialist. In times of recession, however, these employees are likely to be laid off, and "that's likely the biggest mistake companies can make."

Smaller companies can hire a consultant for disaster preparedness or put one or more employees in charge of preparedness, he says.

"They need to sit down and talk about what the company will need to do to respond to future disasters, which could be as simple as backing up files and storing the backups in a location across town, and training people to evacuate the office safely," McEntire says. "Unfortunately, many people downplay the threat of disasters, thinking it won't happen to them."

BY NANCY KOLSTI nkolsti@unt.edu

Other featured articles in this issue

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• Regents rename Administration Building for Hurleys; approve emeritus appointments
• UNT regents approve fee increases, plans to build new residence hall
• UNT scientist: Spraying, prevention are key to killing West Nile virus-infected mosquitoes
• UNT creates electronic conferencing laboratory
• Food, services conveniently located in UNT's University Union
• Chinese cuisine served in Campus Chat Food Court
• Disaster Education Day at UNT Sept. 13

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