"Thursday's attacks didn't come as a surprise to Edmonton [um "emergency planning manager" em Londres] or anyone at Cobra. The city has spent years preparing for the inevitable and since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, several exercises have been conducted simulating attacks on the London Underground. Among them was "Osiris 2", a September 2003 exercise intended to train police and emergency workers in how to deal with a major chemical weapons attack. About 500 emergency services workers took part in the training. Edmonton was among them. "We were prepared," he says.

London responded on Thursday with finesse. Within ten minutes of the first attack, warning signs were already posted on the major traffic arteries into the city, all of London Underground trains were stopped, bus drivers were promptly ordered to return their buses to the depots and a short time later, soldiers were deployed to strategically important locations, including the Queen's residence at Buckingham Palace.

Barely an hour after the attacks, the injured at the Underground station Edmonton was responsible for had already been classified, given preliminary treatment and most had already been transported to the nearby Royal London Hospital. The bodies of people who died in the trains were left untouched so that investigators could search for clues that might shed light on the terrorists responsible for the crime and the tools they used to kill.

Within one and a half hours of the first attack, all of the wounded had been taken from Edmonton's station to the hospital, and rescue workers turned the disaster scene over to police investigators so they could begin their difficult job of tracking down the perpetrators. Edmonton drove back to his office. He was tired, but he had done his job and so had his colleagues. It was no victory, but it was good. Very good. They could hardly have done better."

DER SPIEGEL (englisch version)