Psycho-Social Impacts Amongst A Neglected Population: the Residential Community of Lower Manhattan After the Wtc Disaster

ISEE-295

Abstract:

Given the dimensions of the World Trade Center disaster, it is not surprising that considerable attention has been given to victims associated directly with the twin towers: the office workers, emergency responders and clean up workers. As this paper documents, there has been a significant neglect in post-disaster attention, testing, mitigation, compensation and precaution for Lower Manhattan residents against other victims groups. This inattention is evident, for example, in the shaping of epidemiological studies and policies catering to specific constituencies after the disaster. In reality, the residents were subject to significant disruption, potential environmental exposure, and relatively minimal guidance and assistance in regaining their homes. For most residents of the neighborhoods surrounding the World Trade Center, September 11 and the immediate aftermath was a period of horror and evacuation, uncertainty about a return, and uncertainty after coming home. Changes in the pattern of activities were necessitated by the physical changes to the neighborhood, the need for various precautions, and the social disruption that occurred. Changes in the basic understanding of life also occurred. Residents feared exposure to a contaminated environment that might affect their health. The control that they had felt over their lives was now heavily compromised. Their environment was now redefined as hazardous. Their homes were no longer secure. And their trust of government and of people in general was tested in various ways. Residents' emotional states were also impacted, as were their family and other relationships, the nature of their community, and often the nature of their livelihood. Some of these impacts were short term, others persist, and still others rise to the surface only when called by current events. It is argued that a comprehensive understanding of the broad impacts to health and to quality of life in lower Manhattan is necessary if programs and policies are to be developed that adequately meet resient's needs. In particular, the paper identifies three gaps that must be closed: 1. The gap in attention to residents against other affected victims groups; 2. The gap in understanding and addressing threats to the residential community; and 3. The gap between efforts to measure mental health impacts and those based on physical exposures to contaminants for this population.