Paper:
How did People Respond and Evacuate in WTC Twin Towers in 2001?
Rita F. Fahy
National Fire Protection Association, 1 Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA 02169, USA
When the twin towers of theWorld Trade Center were attacked on September 11, 2001, thousands of people were able to evacuate the complex before the buildings collapsed. This paper describes the evacuation of the two towers, based on an analysis of first-person accounts that began to appear in the media immediately after the incident. In all, accounts from 435 survivors who were present in the towers at the time of the attack were reviewed. Using a questionnaire adapted from a study of an earlier evacuation of the towers in 1993, the accounts were ‘interviewed.’ Results of the analysis provided information on the location of occupants, their initial awareness of events, the conditions and obstacles they encountered during their evacuation and the time taken to evacuate. The evacuation is compared to events in 1993. Other studies of the evacuation in 2001 are described briefly.
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