ABSTRACT
Terrorism and disaster create circumstances that challenge individuals, families, organizations, and the very social fabric of society. The West has been complacent about terrorism and mass casualties because they have often happened elsewhere or have had manageable consequences. Even the California earthquake in 1994 and the major hurricanes Hugo (1989) and Andrew (1992) caused relatively little loss of life or major injury due to the sophisticated building structures and warning systems available. The tragedies of the attacks of September 11 in 2001 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 have ended this complacency and resulted in a new awareness that it can happen here and that we need to better understand the consequences of mass casualty and develop preventive and treatment interventions. Of course this is a lesson that much of the world knew before, but lacked scientific resources to fully address.
