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You all may have seen this already... Some good news from all of this By now everyone has been hearing the death toll rise and reports of the destruction from the terrorist attacks on the US. These were deplorable acts that we will never forget. But now is a time to look at the other side of the numbers coming out of New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. The sad but somewhat uplifting side that the mainstream media has not reported yet - the SURVIVAL rates and some positive news about the attacks. *** The Buildings *** *The World Trade Center - The twin towers of the World Trade Center were places of employment for some 50,000 people. With the missing list of just over 5,000 people, that means 90% of the people targeted survived the attack. A 90% on a test is an 'A'. * The Pentagon - Some 23,000 people were the target of a third plane aimed at the Pentagon. The latest count shows that only 123 lost their lives. That is an amazing 99.5% survival rate. in addition, the plane seems to have come in too low, too early to affect a large portion of the building. On top of that, the section that was hit was the first of five sections to undergo renovations that would help protect the Pentagon from terrorist attacks. It had recently completed straightening and blast proofing, saving untold lives. This attack was sad, but a statistical failure. *** The Planes *** * American Airlines Flight 77 This Boeing 757 that was flown into the outside of the Pentagon could have carried up to 289 people, yet only 64 were aboard. Luckily 78% of the seats were empty. * American Airlines Flight 11 This Boeing 767 could have had up to 351 people aboard, but only carried 92. Thankfully 74% of the seats were unfilled. * United Airlines Flight 175 Another Boeing 767 that could have sat 351 people only had 65 people on board. Fortunately it was 81% empty. * United Airlines Flight 93 This Boeing 757 was one of the most uplifting stories yet. The smallest flight to be hijacked with only 45 people aboard out of a possible 289 had 84% of its capacity unused. Yet these people stood up to the attackers and thwarted a fourth attempted destruction of a national landmark, saving untold numbers of lives in the process. *** In Summary *** Out of potentially 74,280 Americans directly targeted by these inept cowards, 93% survived or avoided the attacks. That's a higher survival rate than heart attacks, breast cancer, kidney transplants and liver transplants - all common, survivable llnesses. The Hijacked planes were mostly empty, the Pentagon was hit at it's strongest point, the overwhelming majority of people in the World Trade Center buildings escaped, and a handful of passengers gave the ultimate sacrifice to save even more lives. Pass this information on to those in fear and the media. Don't fear these terrorists. The odds are against them. Joe Vela Shriners Hospital for Children-Houston

I saw where an official (Giuliani I believe) mentioned that 25,000 people were evacuated from the WTC.

I think the 50,000 figure was the potential high-end number...the capacity of the buildings.

My friend worked on the 31st floor of the first Tower hit, there were 1,500 people in his office that day, all of them got out.So there are good stories, they just seemed to be overwhelmed by the numbers of lost.We will still travel, just with more caution than before, not quite as carefree as the "old days" before this happened.

Yes, but of all of the people in the U.S. who have hearts, only .0000001% had a heart attack on September 11 between 8:45 and 11:00 a.m. So the 7% figure you give for WTC is chilling by comparison. You'll have a hard time convincing me that the WTC glass is half-full, Sandi. Nice try, though.

This was interesting reading, but when two of those killed at the Pentagon were friends, it is still two too many.

The news that it could have been much worse isn't totally comforting when one knows that about 7,000 ARE dead or missing!

Good Grief "huh"! I'm not trying to convince you of anything. I was re-posting something that I thought was interesting. Take it or leave it. If you can't see that the numbers in the bldgs and on the planes could have been much higher then you're blind. That's all the article was saying.

I do understand the intention of the statistics given - to try to minimize the success of the attacks. Yes, from a statistical view they were not very successful. However, that doesn't help the people became statistics or their families & friends. Even 1 life lost to terrorism ANYWHERE in the world is unacceptable.

OK everyone - I retract the reposting of the article. Simplying trying to show the slightly lighter sode of a tragic situation...my mistake.

Let's play with statistics. 4 planes crashed. That's a 100% success rate. Can't do much better than that, I guess.

That's OK, Sandi. I took your posting in the spirit I believe it was intended, and it could be said this way... After the horror, we thank god that it wasn't even much worse, because it could have been even so much much worse. And it was not. But then, I am always one who thinks when I hear someone say, o gee, things just can't get any worse---NO, that is so wrong. Things can always get worse. We just must work to make sure that they don't, never again. As we Texans like to cry--Remember the Alamo! Well, in this case, Remember the WTC Towers! Remember the Pentagon! Remember the brave ones on the flight going down in Pennsylvania. Many lessons to learn from, too many.

It takes a lot to post something I find offensive, but this is awful. Aside from the facts that 90% is a B (and how sick is it to "grade" the incidents), but the mainstream media HAS reported much about how many people were saved through evacuation. "The latest count shows that only 123 lost their lives." ONLY? You post words like "thankfully", "luckily", "fortunately", etc. Did you read this before you posted it?

Shocked, The post might be awful, but Sandi's intention wasn't. When you think that, at first, the authorities figured that 800 people had died in the Pentagon, 123 is a much smaller number, don't you agree? Besides, Sandi already apologized.So, please, calm down.

Enough already, this sounds like a gaggle of hens picking at the last bit of corn. Basically, it is good news that we didn't lose as much as was originally thought. It is still terrible news! Folks, these are tough times, about to get tougher. Lighten up a bit, as far as I know we're all on the same side here. Let's save the picking for the bad guys. OF

The last thing I'll say about this is I can't remember the last time I flew anywhere where the plane was 75-85% empty. There could have been hundreds MORE people killed. But I guess most of you can't see that I wasn't celebrating the horror...also I was not the author of the piece, just passing it along....silly me.

Sandi, I am sure you didn't mean to offend anyone. People still have very VERY raw responses right now, that is normal and right. I for one welcomed a look at another side of a horrible, shocking and terrible crime. Of course one person would have been one too many I think we all agree on that, but focusing on the lives saved, over the lives lost may help a person or two proceed, as we all must, with the duties of continued living. And I did loose personal friends.