Educating, informing, and mobilizing the public

This chapter focuses on the education, information, and mobilization of the public after the 9/11 attacks. It addresses the constructive public response, devising publiccommunication strategies, providing practical information, educating the public to use health services wisely, activating civil-society organizations, and utilizing volunteers. The chapter concludes that the wide range of positive public responses to the consequences of terrorist attacks in 2001 indicates that health and safety professionals need to reassess their assumptions about the public's capacity to respond constructively after a terrorist attack.