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Professors from the University at Buffalo are available to discuss the terrorist strikes at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on topics ranging from how this tragedy will affect our national psyche, to our shattered sense of security, new fear of flying and how to cope with grief.
War on American Soil
Tuesday's terrorist strikes at the World Trade Center "brings the horror of war into Americans' lives in ways others have been experiencing it for decades," notes Michael Frisch, professor of American History at the University at Buffalo.
"The power of this event demonstrates how vulnerable -- which means how interrelated -- all of us in the world really are and how necessary communal dialogue is on a worldwide basis.
"All such terrorist attacks like this have something in common -- on a national level -- with rape, in that they produce the sense of terror and rage that women feel when sexually violated -- the power of something to penetrate to our core, violate our physical integrity, threaten our lives and change everything in our lives."
"This event is MUCH MORE terrifying than a missile attack because of the enormous effect on the American community. Who will want to step on a plane again? Who will feel safe anywhere? An anti-missile shield might give us a false sense of security, but as these events prove, it cannot protect us from those bent on bringing the reality of military conflict to American soil."
Frisch can be reached at 716-834-7957.
A Shattered Sense of Security
As a result of Tuesday's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Americans have been hit with a "double shock," according to Paul Senese, assistant professor of political science at the University at Buffalo and an expert in international security and conflict process and American foreign policy.
"The attacks are shocking not only because of the enormous loss of life they've produced, but because of how it was done and where it was done," Senese notes.
"There have been terrorist attacks in other areas of the world that have involved huge loss of life -- in Japan's subways, in Germany, the Middle East, Africa and Spain, for instance.
"Americans historically have felt insulated from disasters like this, however, first, because we've never experienced such an attack, and second, because we've always thought, despite warnings to the contrary, that our security apparatus wouldn't let anything like this happen.
"So we've experienced a double shock. Not only has a monumental disaster been perpetrated by a foreign political group on American soil, but it occurred completely without warning, proving that our sense of security has been based on false assumptions."
Senese may reached for interviews at 716-835-2370.
A New Fear of Flying
While the use of hijacked commercial airliners by terrorists to attack the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Tuesday may leave many reluctant to board an airplane, the issue is not about flying, says Gayle Beck, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University at Buffalo.
"This had nothing to do with flying, it had to do with terrorism. This was an incredibly well-coordinated act that circumvented normal security. The thing to be afraid of isn't airplanes," said Beck, an expert in panic and anxiety disorders and post-traumatic problems.
"Most people who are phobic about flying are probably going to try to find ways to wiggle around getting on an airplane. But thousands of people fly without incident every day. This was a total aberration with respect to the safety of flying," she said.
"Most everyone directly involved in this tragedy perished, but a substantial number of people witnessed this, and we know that these circumstances are ripe fields for post-traumatic problems. There is a profound feeling of unrest. This isn't just situated around flying. There is a generalized feeling that we're unsafe. It redefines our world and we're not used to that definition."
Beck can be reached for comment at 716-645-3650 ext. 230.
Attack Aftermath: Coping With Grief
Following Tuesday's terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, people across the United States "will be looking at everything in their lives through a screen of apprehension," says Thomas T. Frantz, Ph.D., associate professor of counseling and educational psychology at the University at Buffalo. "That apprehension may fade in a couple days, or it may last a week" or longer.
"We all have a whole variety of problems we're dealing with already, so this grief and sadness will make those problems feel worse," says Frantz. "If you're not getting along with your wife, it will feel worse. If you are worried about a sick child, you will feel more concerned."
Frantz, associate dean in UB's Graduate School of Education and chair of the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, has spent 25 years researching and practicing in the areas of grief, bereavement, mourning, death, dying, suicide, life after death, stress, counseling and related issues.
Frantz said that for families and friends of victims of the attack, the grief of losing a loved one will be similar to the grief surrounding any sudden death: "Shock, numbness, which usually gives way to depression are universal responses, but everyone does it differently. Some people may be angry first, and for others, anger catches up with them later," he notes.
Frantz can be reached at 716-645-6640, or 716-631-9121. His email address is [email protected].
Triaging the Disaster
Hospital emergency rooms in New York City will be deluged with hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of victims of today's terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
Richard Krause, UB assistant professor of emergency medicine, can discuss how medical personnel will cope with the challenge of triaging and caring for the wounded.
Krause can be reached at 716-859-1993 or beeper: 716-643-3028.
Attack on the National Psyche
Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., will have long-range effects on the national psyche when it comes to topics as far-ranging as this country's vulnerability to terrorist attacks and the safety of air flight.
Available to talk with reporters on the psychological impact of the attacks on Americans is B. Beth Cohen, Ph.D., clinical assistant professor in the UB Department of Psychology and director of the university's Psychological Services Center.
Cohen can be reached in her office at 716-645-3697, ext. 176.
Collapse of the World Trade Center
Michel (pronounced Mi-shel)Bruneau, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at the University at Buffalo is an expert on steel structures, coauthor of "Ductile Design of Steel Structures" and author of numerous book chapters and technical papers.
Regarding the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, Bruneau said:
"The World Trade Center is built like a tube with holes, the holes being the windows. So you can cut part of the tube, and it will still remain standing. But steel loses strength when its temperature reaches 1,200-degrees Fahrenheit. Now the steel columns would have been covered in fire retardant material. That is usually sufficient to allow 2 or 3 hours of evacuation, but if you have lost a chunk of the side of the building, the time to leave the building would be drastically reduced."
Bruneau, deputy director of the Multidisciplinary Center on Earthquake Engineering Research, headquartered at UB, can be reached at 716-310-7067, or through Ellen Goldbaum in UB News Services, 716-645-5000, ext. 1415.
Reconnaissance Team to Visit the World Trade Center
Kathleen Tierney, Ph.D., an expert in disaster research, member of the executive committee of UB's Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research, and director of the Disaster Research Institute at the University of Delaware, said her center is sending a team to the World Trade Center today (Sept. 11) to do reconnaissance. The group originally was scheduled to do an emergency drill Sept. 12 at 7 World Trade Center.
"There is no question that evacuating a structure of that size in such a short period of time is tremendously problematic. And when the first plane struck the tower, people probably tried to help in some way, and then thought about evacuating, but of course, the 18 minutes between the first and second impacts would not in any way have been sufficient time for evacuation.
"It's absolutely known that the World Trade Center is a target. Ironically, the city's command center for emergency response is based at 7 World Trade Center. So they are right on the spot, but the question is, to what extent will that very high-tech facility remain operational? This structure was already hit once, back in 1993 with the intent of collapsing a tower. I know for a fact that the facility does, of course, have backup plans."
Tierney added that the concern is not only that the WTC has collapsed, but that the WTC has beneath it a vast maze of shopping areas and subway lines, heavily frequented by workers and commuters.
Tierney can be reached by calling Ellen Goldbaum in UB News Services, 716-645-5000 ext. 1415, for further assistance.
Call UB News Services at 716-645-2626 for further assistance and identification of other UB faculty experts.
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