Thread by @juliettekayyem

On the #BostonMarathon weekend, and 9 years after the terror attack, I am again reminded about the misleading nature of #BostonStrong. From reporting for THE DEVIL NEVER SLEEPS, a new story on what strong really means. 1/

I'll be blunt: #bostonstrong gives the false impression that disaster response is about some mood, the Irish blood, the Ortiz "this is our f--king city" attitude. I know why we need that kind of swagger. But it hides something more complicated, tactical. 2/

I've written before about measuring success after the bombings. Tragically, 3 died at the finish line. But given the investments in training, pivoting, the moment of the "boom" tactics, 281 sent to 26 hospitals in 3 states did not die. 3/

We failed; there was an attack. But we knew how to fail safer that day. This statistic is remarkable. If a victim survived the bombing, even with loss of limb(s), appendage(s), massive injury, trauma, the victim lived.
3 to 281. Success, of sorts. And certainly not a mood. 4/

There is another story that is forgotten. When people ask me about if there is one universal feeling after a disaster, it is the immeasurable desire by survivors for family unification. Nothing can stop a parent in search of a child so planners better account for it. 5/

We had done scenario planning in the past. I was out of state and federal government by 2013, but knew that that planning had envisioned the potential for the finish line to move due to weather or some disruption. So we focused on family unification at some new finish line. 6/

But planning did not account for NO FINISH LINE, which was what happened in 2013. The marathon stopped; runners were diverted away from Boylston street; their families were on the other side; many runners had no idea what happened; many run without phones. 7/

"You can't come down here, the race is over, go away, go back, go home, go away. (But) we didn't have a place to send them because we didn't know what was safe at that point," Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis told me in an interview. 8/

But family unification was key. If you can get families together, they will leave the site, lower the temperature, relieve public safety needs, and protect evidence. So despite having no specifics, they had a goal: get everybody who could away from the bombing site, united. 9/

Nobody seems to know who made the call, but a nearby armory was used as a command post to get families and runners to reunite at the cleared Boston Common slightly up the street. Signs with letters for last names -- A, B, C -- were moved; social media helped get people there. 10/

Family unification. The effort cleared the scene in no time; home owners nearby also took in runners or family to help them connect. This may seem minor as surely people would eventually reunite. But chaos surrounding family unification would have added an additional burden. 11/

Boston strong? Sure, why not. But the stories of disasters too often make everything seem like luck or mood, as if tragedies unfold in uncontrollable ways. They do not. 281 people did not die on April 15, 2013.
Success, of sorts. We failed, safer.
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