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"We intend to do everything we can to ease the burden of this terrible crash on the people of New York, who have already overcome so much," Secretary Thompson said. "We are providing expertise to work with family members of crash victims and to help local authorities with the recovery effort."

Following the crash, HHS' Office of Emergency Preparedness sent 21 people trained to respond to disasters such as plane crashes to work with families of victims. The workers have been paired with New York City staff and are conducting interviews and gathering information to be used to identify crash victims. HHS also reassigned 10 additional workers already in New York City to help process the data collected from family members as part of this process.

HHS also has sent 14 people to work with New York City's Office of the Medical Examiner to assist in DNA collections from crash victims, and with related medical and legal issues.

HHS has overall responsibility for public health in national emergencies and oversees the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS), which provides medical personnel rapidly to support local areas when they need assistance to meet a substantial emergency situation.

In response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and subsequent anthrax threat, some 2,000 HHS-supported personnel have been deployed to New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida and the Washington, D.C., metro area to assist in responding.

Also today, Secretary Thompson convened a three-day national summit in New York City to examine and enhance the local, state and federal role in addressing the mental health and substance abuse needs of individuals and communities before, during, and after acts and threats of terrorism. Forty-two governors appointed state teams of mental health, substance abuse, and related health and human services professionals to attend the summit, as has the District of Columbia.

More information about HHS' response efforts, including tips about how to talk to children about disasters and obtaining referrals for local grief counseling, is available at www.hhs.gov.

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