- List some of the factors that complicated the efforts of the emergency crews (fire, police
And medical) in responding to the Madrid attack.
Ans. Madrid train attack is recorded as the biggest Islamic terrorist attack on Europe. After
The attack rescue operations by Police, Fire and Medical teams became very difficult. The
Factors that affected their work are as follows.
There was no field triage or the tacking system which resulted in least injured patients
reaching The emergency care units first.
Fire and Police team had no access to the centralized information.They got confused to send
How many personnel to each site and, as a result there was a complete imbalance.
Telecommunication systems were completely overloaded and disrupted as result Police, Fire
And other emergency response systems could not communicate with each other at all.
- What were the problems with existing communication system?
Ans. The main problem was communication being completely decentralized. During
Emergency The Police, Fire and Medical response teams could not effectively respond
Because they could not effectively communicate with each other as the systems got
Overloaded and could not be rectified.
3. Describe the new system that was put after the attacks.
Ans. The new response system that was put after attacks is a centralized unit which help
Them to deal with real time situations. Everything starts with an emergency call. After
Analyzing the call they pass it to the respective departments, where they decide the best
Possible plan. They do regular follow ups about the incident and obtain periodic information.
4. Describe the business process of the new emergency response center.
Ans. The Emergency system now, a centralized unit which fights situations in real time.
Everything here starts with an emergency call and they take 1 minute to react to a call. After
Receiving and analyzing the call they pass the information to the respective for effective
Measures. They do regular follow ups of all the incidents. As every second counts in
Emergency they work in a proper responsive manner.
5. What is the response time goal and progress that have been made?
Ans. The main goal is to reduce incident response every year and for this they had
Implemented a process management tool, developed by IBM which has reduced the response
Time by 25%.
Sources and References:
Madrid train bombings of 2004 July,2005.http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1279086/Madrid-train-bombings-of-2004.
ELAINE SCIOLINO. Spain Struggles to Absorb Worst Terrorist Attack in Its History. March 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/11/international/europe/11CND-TRAI.html
