Beginning just two days after the World Trade Center tragedy on Sept. 11, teams from the College's Disaster Research Center have been in New York, observing and studying the recovery effort firsthand.

"We're working closely with the city officials to help them identify lessons learned from this tragedy," says Kathleen Tierney, professor of sociology and director of the center. "We're devoting a substantial amount of our work to lessons that can be helpful to other jurisdictions."

The first team to arrive in New York from the center included graduate student Tricia Wachtendorf and postdoctoral researcher Jim Kendra, who were given clearance to visit Ground Zero and the midtown planning centers, where they attended meetings and observed the disaster recovery process.

"The New York City Emergency Management Center, which was located in the World Trade Towers complex, was destroyed, and it was impressive how quickly the city and center re-established itself," Tierney says of the days immediately following Sept. 11. "West Side piers on the Hudson River in midtown Manhattan were taken over. Pier 90 was the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) emergency field office; pier 92 was the city's Emergency Operation Center; and pier 94 housed the Victims Center. Computer stations were quickly installed, communications were established, and the GIS [Geographic Information System] was up and running, thanks to many offers of assistance.

"There was an outpouring of altruism--a convergence of people wanting to help."

Wachtendorf and Kendra were driven from their hotel each day in official vehicles to both Ground Zero and to the command posts in midtown Manhattan. They went through stringent security checks, they say, since this was not only a disaster site but also a crime scene.

"It was as bad as it can be. While a loss of property is a hardship, the high casualties set this disaster apart from others," Wachtendorf says.

Watching the command posts work and sitting in on meetings, Wachtendorf and Kendra say they learned about how officials dealt with health, safety and logistics issues--coordinating hundreds of agencies and countless donations, housing displaced persons, installing utilities, caring for the injured, recording information about victims and removing debris.

The Victims Center was heart-wrenching, Wachtendorf says. A large wall acted as a memorial, with photographs of victims, many of them young people depicted on their wedding days or with their young children.

In the subsequent months, center researchers have visited the site and the city numerous times and will continue to do so, Tierney says, emphasizing the need for large-scale studies of the disaster and recovery.

"We have had tremendous access," Kendra says. "When we assimilate all that we observed, we will share our findings with New York officials about the disaster and hope it will help other communities with their planning and response."

The researchers' work also has drawn some national attention, including an Oct. 7 article in The New York Times, headlined, "A City Changed Forever? History Reveals a Resilience Born in the Tumult of Crisis." In the article, Tierney says, "Disasters don't alter the course of social change. They may accelerate trends, but you don't see a reversal of what was already happening."

The Disaster Research Center has been at UD since 1985. Founding directors Russell Dynes and E. L. Quarantelli are now professors emeriti of sociology.

The world is the center's laboratory, as researchers study earthquakes, typhoons, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, man-made catastrophes and riots. Faculty and staff have traveled to communities in the United States and around the world to study and analyze disaster preparedness, response and recovery.

In addition to its own database, the center serves as a repository for information from other agencies and researchers worldwide. This library is open to agencies and persons involved in emergency management. The center also has organized multinational research conferences focusing on disaster issues.

--Sue Moncure