Earthquake Specialists Study 9/11

[arisbe]

MCEER [The Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research] has issued a report series titled Engineering and Organizational Issues Related to The World Trade Center Terrorist Attack. The series is based on the premise that the World Trade Center attack could be seen as a "proxy" for what a major earthquake might do in a complex, densely populated, modern urban environment. Like an earthquake, the terrorist attack occurred with virtually no warning. As would be expected in an earthquake, fires broke out and multiple structural collapses occurred. As has been observed in major urban earthquakes and in other disasters (e.g., Hurricane Andrew), structures that performed critical emergency functions were destroyed, heavily damaged, or evacuated for life-safety reasons.

The three volumes are available in .pdf form here. The second is devoted to the enormous hulk which remains shrouded in black across the construction site from my usual table in the company cafeteria.