Even as the clean-up work at ground zero, the Pentagon and in a Pennsylvania field continues, six months after the terrorist attacks those most closely affected work to move forward as they continue to remember.
“I would say that I think people are getting back on track with their day-to-day lives,” said Somerset County, Pa. Commission Chair James Marker. “Yes, people, especially the board of commissioners, are heavily involved in the memorial process, but life is moving on.”
That memorial process Marker mentions is the work of the Somerset County Commission to create a memorial at the site of the crash of Flight 93. The county has already gathered about $150,000, with an additional $350,000 pledged for the memorial. It is working closely with the families of those aboard the flight and those living closest to the site to create a moving and appropriate memorial. Also this week, the county will petition Congress to make the field outside of Shanksville where the crash occurred a national monument.
Since the terrorist attacks, buzzwords such as “homeland security,” “preparedness” and “first responders” have become a part of the American vernacular. Nonetheless, there are genuine and compelling issues behind the words.
While no one could have specifically prepared for the terrorist attacks in September, many counties found that if they did have emergency preparedness plans in place, those plans were inadequate.
However, many of the counties directly affected by the terrorist attacks found that the plans they had in place only needed minor tweaking based on the experiences of September.
“I think we kind of felt that the 11th was a unique experience because we never had something like that before and probably don’t expect to have anything like that again,” explained Frank Pizutta, emergency management director for Hudson County, N.J.
“However, I don’t know what we, or anyone could adequately include in our plan to handle a problem like the 11th ,” Pizutta said. “I think a lot of organizations learned a lot, but I don’t think it was because their plans were lacking before the 11th, it’s just a whole different world.”
Marker noted that Somerset only had to make minor adjustments to its emergency preparedness plan.
“We found out during the Sept. 11 events that our emergency preparedness was very good,” Marker said. “We found that we had very minor problems that needed to be corrected.”
Marker added that some of those minor changes can be found in the county’s new 9-1-1 center currently being built.
While emergency preparedness plans can be tweaked and fields cleaned up and buildings rebuilt, repairing the emotional fallout of the terrorist attacks is harder to define.
“The emotional trauma of the event caused a lot of people high anxiety and I think we all, whether we actually worked at ground zero or only saw it, have experienced different levels of post-traumatic stress disorder,” Pizutta said. “We’ve all suffered, but I think people are recovering and moving on.”
And one way people coped with that stress and anxiety was by offering help. Whether their counties were or are prepared, whether their counties were directly affected or not, one thing that everyone can agree upon is the spirit brought about by the events of Sept. 11 that continues today.
“Many, many county commissioners have called us since Sept. 11,” Marker said.
“They have called us or approached us in person to offer support. It’s been quite encouraging to see how counties have pulled together, not only to support us, but to support everyone.”
