First World Trade Center bombing 2/26/93

[geralmar]

History, of course, is full of "what ifs". The following-- obviously pre-9/11-- is from Terror in the Mind of God, Mark Juergensmeyer, University of California, 2000.

If the amount of explosives in the truck had been just a little larger and the truck placed slightly differently in the basement parking area, it would have brought down an entire tower-- which most likely would have fallen sideways, destroying the second tower as well. Instead of six people killed, the number perished could easily have climbed to two hundred thousand. It would have included most of the fifty thousand workers and an equal number of visitors on-site at the World Trade Center on that fateful day, plus another hundred thousand workers in the surrounding buildings, which would have been destroyed if both towers fell. (p. 61-62)

Of course it didn't happen; but it does make the first bombing much more significant than we have been led to believe.

[Apollo Zeus]

1. I was working at 220 Fifth Ave

And all the TV stations went off the air except the one that still had it its tower on the Empire State Building.

Cracked and dropped pieces of the ceiling of the room I was working in -- 12th floor about 1-1/2 miles from WTC.

The original WTC towers were not especially well built. They compromised structure for windows and rentable floor space. It is tough to build over 65 stories without a wider base like the Empire State building. Rock Center is about 65 stories and that's why.

[electric_blue68]

3. Wow, I hadn't heard about damage that relatively...

far away.

I was doing temp work a week or less earlier nearby. I had to bring some items to probably a bank on the underground shopping area. I actually passed by the escalators going down to the PATH which was one of areas that was blown up from the first bombing.
I had finished that job and was out of that area before it happened.

We were realitively really lucky that time.

[luvs2sing]

2. A good friend's husband was in that bombing..

He had a hard time getting out of the tower. As a result of that, he and my friend, who worked in the World Financial building, made a plan that if anything the least bit odd occurred, they would immediately leave and meet at the train station. On 9/11, that plan saved his life.

[electric_blue68]

4. Wow. Amazing luck and pre-planning!