A major disaster/emergency

Evaluation of Mitigation and Preparedness in the 9/11 Attacks Student’s Name Institution Affiliation Course Name & Code Instructor’s Name Date Evaluation of Mitigation and Preparedness in the 9/11 Attacks The Act of terrorism that took place on September 11, 2001, by a group of terrorists involved in attacking the World Trade Center in New York City has remained one of the events with the highest level of destructive impacts in the United States to date. They killed nearly 3,000 people, the destruction of a symbol of economic power, and a reshaping of global geopolitics. These attacks also highlighted critical vulnerabilities in the U.S. response and contingency plans. Although there was clarity concerning natural disasters, there was little focus on human-induced calamities such as terrorism. The paper will analyze the existing mitigation and preparedness measures before the 9/11 tragedy and suggest how they could be enhanced. The paper will explore these elements through critical areas: the enabling legislation, central and local government functions, risk assessment, and resiliency. Mitigation Overview Mitigation Definition and Context According to Sandler and Schwab (2021), loss reduction and prevention efforts involve implementing activities and policies to minimize long-term risks posed by hazards and their potential impacts. Moreover, this is the initial stage in the disaster management cycle, which seeks to reduce the occurrence of disasters or minimize their effects on societies if they are likely to happen. Thus, before the catastrophe of 9/11, the majority of attention was paid to natural threats such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods in the USA, while terrorism-related risks remained poorly addressed. The 9/11 disaster proved that, to address human-induced risks such as terrorism, it is necessary to develop complex prevention measures. Enabling and Guiding Policies and Legislation Disaster mitigation measures in the United States are usually based on the legal instrument known as the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, which establishes the framework for disaster preparedness and mitigation at federal, state, and local levels (FEMA, 2015). The Act guarantees that communities will receive the funds and equipment necessary to minimize the risks of disasters. However, these policies fell short of adequately tackling the issue of terrorism before September 11. Despite intelligence suggesting a possible attack, the necessary precautions were not taken to prevent the risk. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Patriot Act was passed to address increased security threats and terrorism by improving intelligence gathering, monitoring, and investigations. Government Role in Mitigation These are the responsibilities of the federal, state, and local governments in disaster prevention. FEMA, another federal agency, is responsible for coordinating the activities involved in the mitigation process and offering technical and financial support to state and local governments. However, FEMA and similar organizations were primarily preoccupied with natural disaster preparedness until 9/11 (Walton et al., 2021). Codes applied to the construction and design of buildings like the World Trade Center did not provide for such type of an attack, and the absence of reinforced architecture played an essential role in the towers' collapse. U.S. federal agencies, especially the intelligence community, had some information on the impending danger but could not efficiently coordinate the prevention process across the institutions. Over the years, it became clear that better communication between various agencies would be necessary for future disaster mitigation. Risk Analysis and Countermeasures Risk assessment is an essential factor of risk management that affirms the risks and susceptibility of communities and infrastructure. No study provided a holistic approach to risk assessment that included these threats in the contingency plans (Sandler & Schwab, 2021), regardless of the rumors claiming that al-Qaeda intended to use planes as weapons. Failure to apply the techniques usually used for critical infrastructure...