Elements of Community Resilience in the World Trade Center Attack (2001-2002)

In this paper we examine how New York City coped with the destruction of its Emergency Operations Center following the World Trade Center attack and how it reconstituted that center in a new location. We make the observation that, although the physical facility was destroyed, the organization that had been established to manage crises in New York City remained substantially intact, enabling a response that drew on the resources of New York City and neighboring communities, states, and the federal government. A resilient emergency response was achieved through integrating the adaptive capacity of the response organization with the resources of New York City, private entities, and government at all levels. Availability of resources (which fostered redundancy of capability), pre-existing relationships that eased communication challenges as the emergency developed, and the continuation of organizational patterns of response integration and role assignments were among the factors that contributed to resilience following the attack.