ABSTRACT
After the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, the model for disaster response in the United States changed. Prior to that day, government and volunteer agency response was geared toward hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and earthquakes. During the 1970s the nature of disaster had subtly changed as manmade disasters increased to include oil spills, chemical plant accidents, and dam breaks. Following the 1979 nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, the only request from the White House to the Red Cross was to plan for a potential mass evacuation. On April 15, 1995, when a bomb exploded in the truck parked outside the Murrah Building at 9:02 a.m., the sound was heard throughout the city, was felt 55 miles away, and measured 6.0 on the Richter scale (U.S. Department of Justice, 2000). The ensuing psychological impact reverberated throughout the country. Federal and state agencies responded with appropriate urgency. By 9:25 a.m., twenty-three minutes after the explosion, the State Emergency Operations Center was operational.
