Augusta Mayor Bob Young held a closed-door meeting with public-safety officials to review emergency action plans implemented after the attacks as a precautionary measure against possible copycat crimes.

The meeting was closed to the media ''for the safety of the public,'' Mr. Young said.

Afterward the mayor said questions and concerns about local safety measures, closings and general information will be directed through the city's emergency management agency.

''There's a lot of concern and a lot of rumors, and we need to be able to address the public's concerns,'' Mr. Young said.

Richmond County marshal's officers and sheriff's office deputies will be posted today at the municipal building on Greene Street, the law enforcement center on Walton Way, the Phinizy Road Detention Center and federal courthouse buildings downtown.

''It's just to make sure we don't have any problems here and our public buildings are safe,'' said Marshal Steve Smith.

City offices remained open Tuesday. Public-safety officers were placed on high alert, and reserve officials were notified to be on call.

Meanwhile, many classes came to a halt in area schools as pupils kept an eye on classroom televisions and struggled to understand the day's events.

Safety measures Augusta residents with questions about local safety measures or area closings should contact the Emergency Management Agency office at 821-1155.

''We've been trying to find out who would want to do something like this and why,'' said Jemeral Eady, a 17-year-old senior at Lucy C. Laney High School who had stopped even pretending to study in his SAT study skills class.

Students talked about their fears of what could be hit in an attack on Augusta - mainly Savannah River Site and Fort Gordon - and tried to figure out what would happen next. They expressed concern for their own relatives and the families of teachers in New York. Military sons and daughters worried what the events would mean for their parents. At Lakeside High School, classes halted for a moment of silence in the afternoon, followed by an announcement about local blood drives.

''It was crazy,'' said Camden Morgante, a 15-year-old sophomore at Evans High School and a member of The Augusta Chronicle's Xtreme teen board. ''We started watching in third period, and kept watching.... I didn't get any work done after that. During lunch, there were tons of people calling home, saying they wanted to be home for it, there were people in the office crying.''

Elementary schoolteachers kept televisions off, fearing that footage of the tragedy would be too graphic for children, said Gene Sullivan, deputy superintendent of Richmond County schools. Some principals ordered classroom televisions turned off in other schools after the initial reports, in an attempt to keep the school day as normal as possible and provide some measure of stability. At John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School, Principal James Thompson even had the televisions in the office turned off.

''I think that's stupid to do,'' teen board member Allison Young, 16 and a junior at Evans, said bluntly. ''Students need to be informed.''

Teachers were directed to turn televisions on at Evans High, she said.

Walt Dunaway (left) and Keith Edgerly, both of Augusta, follow TV coverage of the attacks at the Best Buy store in Augusta. MICHAEL HOLAHAN/STAFF

''It was huge. We didn't do anything in class at all,'' she said. ''My history teacher talked about how we would have to take action, how it was an act of war - he was focusing on the big picture and showing us this didn't just happen to New York, it happened to America.''

At Augusta Preparatory School, pupils were called to a assembly at 10 a.m., then directed to the library and the school commons area until classes were canceled at noon.

''There was a point when people were sitting there and they weren't speaking,'' said teen board member William Palmer, a 17-year-old senior at the school. ''People just had to leave. They were crying.''

Other schools stayed on a regular schedule but allowed parents to pick up pupils early if they chose. Buses were sent out early to pick up pupils from Fort Gordon - about 700 pupils in the Richmond County system live on the post, Mr. Sullivan estimated.

Bits and pieces of information about the attacks reached obstetrician Hossam Fadel as he treated patients Tuesday. The news saddened him at the same time it worried him that popular opinion would turn against the Muslim community. But he said the incidents happened for political, not religious, reasons.

In its condemnation of the attacks, the Islamic Society of Augusta expressed sorrow over the attacks and ''the loss of countless innocent lives.''

''We join with all Americans in calling for the swift apprehension and punishment of the perpetrators and call upon our justice system to maintain strict standards of justice and fairness in these trying times,'' President Shariq Hashmi said in a news release.

In Atlanta, state Rep. Ben Harbin said the mood was somber Tuesday morning. After weeks of fighting over redistricting, Georgia's politicians set aside their differences to unite during a time of national tragedy.

''We all feel a sadness because of the loss of human life,'' Mr. Harbin said. ''This tragedy definitely puts things in perspective.''

In South Carolina, U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham said America will pray over its fallen, mourn as a nation, rebuild its damaged and lost structures and come together as a people.

''We will also hunt down the people and organizations responsible for today's terrible acts of violence,'' he said Tuesday.

Thomas L. Hallman, chancellor of the University of South Carolina Aiken, postponed this week's celebration of the school's 40th anniversary. Published class schedules will not change, he said.

Debbie Hope of Aiken watched a bank of televisions with others at the Target store on Whiskey Road and kept in contact with her husband at Savannah River Site.

''People are starting to worry if they are safe out there,'' she said. ''Really, you're not safe anywhere. I just hope we retaliate and retaliate good. It's time to kick butt.''

Staff Writers Sylvia Cooper, Eric Williamson, Ashlee Griggs and Preston Sparks contributed to this article.