In this paper, we examine how organizational resilience was reflected in the activities of New York
City departments as they responded to the World Trade Center attack in September, 2001 while at
the same time losing their primary emergency operations center (EOC) facility at 7 World Trade
Center. Our focus lies primarily on the reestablishment of the EOC in the days that followed the
attack. Data for this analysis were gathered during exploratory fieldwork commencing within two
days of the attack and continuing for two months thereafter, totaling over 750 collective hours of
systematic field observations. In particular, we observed key planning meetings at highly secured
facilities, including the EOC and incident command posts; we spent extensive periods observing
operations at supply and food staging areas, the ìGround Zeroî area, family service centers that
were established for victimsí families, and respite centers that were established for rescue workers.
These observations yielded voluminous field notes as well as over 500 photographs. Additionally, we
collected reports, schedules, meeting agendas, and maps, and we sketched or collected floor plans of
various facilities to track spatial- organizational changes over time. Through these data-gathering
efforts we were able to document the evolution of the re-established emergency operations center
from very early stages.
The response to the attacks on the Twin Towers necessitated the coordination and interdependency
of hundreds of organizations within and outside the City of New York. Our focus of analysis,
however, is on the Emergency Operations Center, the facility at which emergency operations are
coordinated in disasters of all types. We consider the EOC not only as a physical space but as an