A call in the night
By: J. David Chapman/May 25, 2017
The call came into my London hotel room after midnight. I was completely exhausted from leading a real estate tour of London that day and a Jack the Ripper tour that night, and went to sleep early to be ready for our departure to Northern Ireland the next morning.
My colleague and co-author on an international research project on terrorism in the built environment was calling. “David, I hate to wake you, but I must tell you there has been a terrorist attack in Manchester, many are dead and many more wounded.”
He knew with over 40 students from the University of Central Oklahoma on the tour in London, this would be terrifying news in the middle of the night, but he also knew I was likely to start receiving inquiries from home regarding the safety of our students and faculty. We got off the phone and I laid there hoping I was waking up from a nightmare, but after checking the news on the Internet I realized indeed there had been a suicide bomber who detonated an explosive device just after a concert in Manchester killing 22 and injuring 59. While not confirmed, it looked as though a radicalized party had once again succeeded in taking the lives of young and innocent people in the name of ideology.
I have previously written in this column about our research and efforts in making buildings and crowded places more resilient to possible terrorist activities. Ironically, I find myself just a few hours from the latest occurrence of the very thing our research is trying to prepare people and places to endure. I am thankful that none of our students were attending the concert and were nowhere near Manchester, but my heart aches for those families and friends directly affected by the tragedy. As I write this column, I am aboard a ship on the Irish Sea traveling from Holyhead, England to Dublin, Ireland, but my mind is on those that lost loved ones back in Manchester.
In a meeting with students this morning, I had the opportunity to impress upon them the importance of the work our institution is doing with university partners in England, Northern Ireland, and Australia relating to building resilience into crowded places and the built environment.
J. David Chapman is an associate professor of finance and real estate at the University of Central Oklahoma (jchapman7@uco.edu).