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Andreas_Rebmann
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This article covers the investigation procedure following a tragedy, and how the outcomes of these investigations tend to be muddled due to factors outside of logic and reason. These influencing factors make it difficult to draw conclusions as to what contributing factors were most significant in the damage sustained during the tragedy, and how to best avoid them in the future. For this reason, it addresses how difficult it is to improve disaster-response when so little useful information can be gleaned from the modern investigatory procedure. 

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Andreas_Rebmann
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The personal stories of the event, especially of the one paramedic whose name I didn't catch (Hispanic, Female). The emotional tellings of the events were incrediably visceral. I cannot conceive a scenario worse than what they had to deal with. 

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Andreas_Rebmann
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The number of emergency workers lost during 9/11:

343 Fire Fighters - http://nyfd.com/9_11_wtc.html

60 Police Officers

8 EMTs and Paramedics - http://www.world-memorial.org/Tribute/EMS/medics.html

EMS Lesson's Learned from 9/11

http://www.jems.com/articles/2006/08/lessons-learned-911.html

Changes were made to the mutual aid system. Resources that had, in the event, run out or were needed sooner than they were used are now better stocked and available. Some new trainings were implemented.

More stories from 9/11 by EMS

http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/pdf/mck_report/ems_response.pdf

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Andreas_Rebmann
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This report was produce by compiling historical events and vignettes of the investigation process following several prolific tragedies. They are compared, and conclusions are drawn about similar aspects that muddle investigation following one of these tragedies.

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Andreas_Rebmann
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-The “disaster investigation,” far from proving itself the dispassionate, scientific verdict on causality and blame, actually emerges as a hard-fought contest to define the moment in politics and society, in technology and culture.

-Investigators had no power to protest the decision. In fact, their initial request to inspect the steel had been lost in the confusion by city officials still pressed with the responsibility of looking for bodies.

-Clashes over authority among powerful institutions both public and private, competition among rival experts for influence, inquiry into a disaster elevated to the status of a memorial for the dead: these are the base elements of the World Trade Center investigation. And yet, give a brief historical review shows us these elements are not unique.

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Andreas_Rebmann
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As discussed before, the first respodners and doctors had to deal with hundreds of life or death decisions, and the emotional trauma that is involved, through treating the victims of the disaster. Afterward many of these people not only had to see patients pass, but also had friends or family that perished in the disaster.

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Andreas_Rebmann
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-          The article describes Dr. Astaneh-Asl, a Berkeley Professor sent by the ASCE to investigate and determine the structural causes of the collapse of the World Trade Center, and his search for answers. When he arrived in NYC, he finds his evidence he was hoping to investigate, the 310,000 tons of debris, had been sent by the city to be scrapped and recycled.

-          The article goes on to explain the challenges faced by the three organizations presiding over the investigation, FEMA, ASCE and NIST, not being permitted access to documentation, records, or witness testimonies. From these problems arose inter-agency conflict and dischord, as the three failed to work together cohesively with clear goals and purpose. There was a clear lack of leadership, made apparent when Rep. Anthony Weiner asked “Whoever is in charge of this investigation, please raise your hand,” which was met with three people claiming leadership.

-          Knowles goes on to state that these problems and conflicts in the wake of the attack were not unique to the World Trade Center attack. He goes through a number of national tragedies, comparing and contrasting the investigation process of each, explaining the hurdles faced by investigators. This drives home how, over centuries, this is a reoccurring issue.