<p>I believe when fully occupied nearly 50,000 people worked in WTC 1 & 2. My early fears were close to 10,000 people were killed, but I started hearing first hand accounts from acquaintences of how most people ignored the ‘Do not evaculate’ announcements being broadcast. (Morgan Stanley, one of the biggest employers in WTC, issued their own evacuate order and despite being on floors in middle of WTC1 [50-60th is], had under 10 employees perish, including their head of security who made sure everyone was out). A combination of factors, including a very late NY Giants football game, the 8:48am attack time and the first day of school for many kids, contributed to some people not being at work.</p>
<p>From Wikipedia (FWIW) - </p>
<p>The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) estimated that about 17,400 civilians were in the World Trade Center complex at the time of the attacks though turnstile counts from the Port Authority suggest 14,154 people were typically in the Twin Towers by 8:45 a.m.[59][60] The vast majority of people below the impact zone safely evacuated the buildings.[61]</p>
<p>When I got to my husband’s office on 23rd street around 11am, I was speaking with another spouse who had also just arrived. She had just come from her office at WTC1 and left as soon as the first plane hit. When I saw her, I realized that people had made it out. </p>
<p>I remember the confusion in NYC for days as people looked for missing relatives. After a few days, it appeared authorities concluded where the highest floors were that survivors were able to escape after each building was hit. We knew someone that escaped from the highest floor with survivors in WTC1. His harrowing story was told in the WSJ weeks later.</p>
<p>Ever since 9-11, I think about how vulnerable we are. Just last week, one guy in Yuma accidentally cut off power to 4 million people. How easy would it be for a terrorist to do the same coordinated with others to do some mayhem. Computer hacking, a small vial of anthrax (come to think of it the victims of those attacks have been largely overlooked).</p>
<p>But logically I know that we are all much more likely to be killed by a drunk driver or by a street thug, and logically, practically, that is where more of our resources should be put. It’s not killing and mayhem on a grand scale but cumulatively it impacts many more of us over a much longer period of time. I think we all know someone killed in a street crime or by a drunk driver, don’t we? I know I do.</p>
<p>I opted out of the news yesterday. I realized when I read the Sunday comics (Baby Blues) had me crying, I’d be a puddle of tears. The Man in the Red Bandana reduced me to sobs. I’d had enough coverage when it happened.</p>
<p>I didn’t expect I would have this reaction.</p>
<p>Sybbie - your experience underscores why I give thanks for my blessings.</p>
<p>I saw the documentary “On Native Soil” this weekend. It is built around the testimony in and findings of “The 9/11 Commission.” I bought the report when it came out, but it hit harder hearing the testimony of the families. The issue of evacuation orders is covered and it is heartbreaking to hear the 911 operators and building security telling people to stay put or even to return to their offices.</p>
<p>Catera45 - Yes, the “lack of” evacuation orders was always a sore spot for me. Anyone could look at the first tower that was hit and see it was a “MAJOR” event, regardless of what that event was - and the surrounding buildings should have been evacuated immediately. </p>
<p>Catera45 - did they say in the report who was the “one” who made the decision to have building security tell people to stay in the building.</p>
<p>Regarding the number of lost and injured…my heart breaks for them and their loved ones.</p>
<p>However, there are mysterious stories of people who might have been at the WTC but were not, on that day. One really wonders what to make of these stories.</p>
<p>The following story is a true one, told to me by someone I know. I have heard of other stories like this as well.</p>
<p>My friend’s brother-in-law worked in an office on a high floor at the WTC. He was the kind of guy who was never sick, never missed a day of work for any reason.</p>
<p>However, on 9/11 he woke up feeling, unaccountably, very ill, physically. Although he wanted to go to work, he felt far too sick to possibly make it in, and this almost certainly saved his life.</p>
<p>Some people think there is a strange sort of destiny or predetermination involved in who was lost and who was spared. Not in terms of punishment, of course…but in terms of noble sacrifice, so to speak. It’s hard to know what to think about this.</p>
<p>[National</a> Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States](<a href=“http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch9.htm]National”>National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States)</p>
<p>Lack of Comprehensive Evacuation of South Tower Immediately after the North Tower Impact: No decision has been criticized more than the decision of building personnel not to evacuate the South Tower immediately after the North Tower was hit. A firm and prompt evacuation order would likely have led many to safety. Even a strictly “advisory” announcement would not have dissuaded those who decided for themselves to evacuate. The advice to stay in place was understandable, however, when considered in its context. At that moment, no one appears to have thought a second plane could hit the South Tower. The evacuation of thousands of people was seen as inherently dangerous. Additionally, conditions were hazardous in some areas outside the towers.202 </p>
<p>Less understandable, in our view, is the instruction given to some civilians who had reached the lobby to return to their offices. They could have been held in the lobby or perhaps directed through the underground concourse.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, it is not standard fire department protocol to “dump a building” (aka, total evacuation) when fire occurs. The professionals have determined that evacuees can get in the way or be in danger if they linger too close to the building. In the high rise where I used to work we were told that the alarm will sound on the incident floor, 2 floors above, and 1 floro below. </p>
<p>In the time since 2001, Baltimore Co. FD hasn’t changed it’s policy. However, employers are now prohibited from disciplining workers who evacuate when fearing for their safety. No one has to obey “return to your desk” instructions anymore. </p>
<p>I remember being a guest at a hotel in 2004. H and I were in the lobby restaurant one night while the kids were up in the room on 10th floor. Fire on 9; the kids were evacuated. There was no alarm or any sign of emergency down where we were were. Strange but true.</p>
<p>Here is a section relating to the mixed signals on evacuation. </p>
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<p>I wish I had. I watched some of the documentary about the firefighters and woke up in the middle of the night and could not get back to sleep. My seventeen-year-old son watched as well, in addition to some other coverage, and he had difficulty sleeping. He told me he hadn’t seen those images since age seven and, at that point, it was probably photographs as he remembers no coverage (I guess I didn’t let him see it). He told me this morning he never wants to see these images again because they are so upsetting. I feel the same way. I think seeing them on the same day we saw people mourning their loved ones made it even more devastating, if possible.</p>
<p>When I heard that a plane had hit the WTC, I remember that my instant mental image was of a small Cessna off course. The advice to stay in place may have been reasonable at first, when no one knew that the crash had been deliberate. Also, no one knew that the buildings would fall (except for some engineers who were watching the coverage).</p>
<p>Silvermoonlock: I was also taken aback by the cartoon coverage in yesterdays paper. I pitched the front section & decided to stick with the sales fliers & funnies, only to have almost every cartoon tackle 9/11. I liked the Doonesbury strip best. </p>
<p>I asked D2 (who was in 1st grade & 6 at the time) if she remembered anything, as a few of her friends & their parents commented on FB yesterday that the kids had no recollection (primarily because the parents down here didn’t let the kids watch the coverage when they got home that afternoon.) She had a vague memory while mine was strong of walking her out of school and talking to both my D’s about what happened as we were watching the smoke in the distance. I’m really glad she doesn’t remember, because I’m pretty sure I wasn’t mother of the year material for that time period. </p>
<p>DH ended up talking the most he ever has about it; all the moments & gestures during the college & pro football games ended up getting to him by last night. His office was just across the river on Washington St. in Jersey City and months of smoldering ruins and the triage center at Liberty State Park made it impossible for him to “forget.”</p>
<p>If you missed the documentary by the Naudet brothers, you can watch it on the CBS site. It is 119 minutes and only has one commercial if memory serves.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cbs.com/shows/ten_years_later[/url]”>http://www.cbs.com/shows/ten_years_later</a></p>