In other words, the agency officially responsible for keeping Anchorage from falling apart in a crisis appeared to have unraveled under that stress itself. The longer Quarantelli sat around at Civil Defense on Sunday, the more fascinated he seemed by the foibles unfolding in front of him. At one o’clock, he watched an exasperated fireman enter the office and bark at the teenager sitting by the telephones: “Why are you people not answering the calls that are coming for you? Don’t you people pay attention to that little buzzer?” Apparently, no one in the room understood how to properly work the
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