EMERGENCY EFFORTS CO-ORDINATED BY CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Emergency efforts co-ordinated by Chief Executive
Chief Executive of Omagh District Council John McKinney was faced with the unenviable task of co-ordinating the process of identifying the victims.
As news of the terrible toll spread, relatives and friends desperate to contact family members, turned to a specially set up incident centre at Omagh Leisure Complex.
Council staff Members, specially trained counsellors, clergy and police worked round the clock compiling lists of casualties who had been admitted to hospitals in the area.
Anxious relatives scanned through lists of names, hoping against hope their loved ones had escaped injury.
"It was a rather undefined role which placed me in the position of trying to co-ordinate the human side of the tragedy" Mr McKinney told the 'Herald'
"I opened the centre so people could come here and get regular updates on things.
"We opened a special telephone number and throughout Saturday "We took all the details of those who were reported missing, collated them all together and got the lists from each of the hospitals and matched them off with people who were ringing in.
"We were then in a position where we could ring the people back and let them know what the situation was."
The task of confirming or eliminating victims was hampered considerable as phone lines became jammed.
The Chief Executive paid tribute to Council staff who manned the phones in an attempt to lessen the suffering of those whose loved ones had yet to be accounted for.
"Of course we also had DHSS staff here to counsel the people, together with priests and ministers to deal with the relatives' spiritual needs.
"All in all, I'm quite pleased the way the coordination went here.
"We stayed open of their loved ones would come up on the lists.
"Some went away happy, others stayed here all night because the names didn't come up.
"As the night went on they were anxious to hear about any information we could give them. Of course we had to be patient as well."
Mr McKinney said police and social services had to deal with the situation in a very sensitive manner, counselling families before
Turning to the long-term effect the bombing may have on the town, the Chief Executive said he believed it would take a long time before people would realise the full impact.
"It's going to require a tremendous amount of counselling and working with the community.
"Within such a close knit community it's bound to touch almost every family.
"I don't think there is a family in the whole general area who aren't affected."
Chief Executive of Omagh District Council John McKinney was faced with the unenviable task of co-ordinating the process of identifying the victims.
As news of the terrible toll spread, relatives and friends desperate to contact family members, turned to a specially set up incident centre at Omagh Leisure Complex.
Council staff Members, specially trained counsellors, clergy and police worked round the clock compiling lists of casualties who had been admitted to hospitals in the area.
Anxious relatives scanned through lists of names, hoping against hope their loved ones had escaped injury.
"It was a rather undefined role which placed me in the position of trying to co-ordinate the human side of the tragedy" Mr McKinney told the 'Herald'
"I opened the centre so people could come here and get regular updates on things.
"We opened a special telephone number and throughout Saturday "We took all the details of those who were reported missing, collated them all together and got the lists from each of the hospitals and matched them off with people who were ringing in.
"We were then in a position where we could ring the people back and let them know what the situation was."
The task of confirming or eliminating victims was hampered considerable as phone lines became jammed.
The Chief Executive paid tribute to Council staff who manned the phones in an attempt to lessen the suffering of those whose loved ones had yet to be accounted for.
"Of course we also had DHSS staff here to counsel the people, together with priests and ministers to deal with the relatives' spiritual needs.
"All in all, I'm quite pleased the way the coordination went here.
"We stayed open of their loved ones would come up on the lists.
"Some went away happy, others stayed here all night because the names didn't come up.
"As the night went on they were anxious to hear about any information we could give them. Of course we had to be patient as well."
Mr McKinney said police and social services had to deal with the situation in a very sensitive manner, counselling families before
Turning to the long-term effect the bombing may have on the town, the Chief Executive said he believed it would take a long time before people would realise the full impact.
"It's going to require a tremendous amount of counselling and working with the community.
"Within such a close knit community it's bound to touch almost every family.
"I don't think there is a family in the whole general area who aren't affected."
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/0006
Published Date: 20-Aug-98
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