On Fri, 14 Sep 2001, Raimo Korhonen wrote:
> I thought that there was a helicopter platform on top of one of the
> towers. And it would have been good to see that something was even
> tried to save these people.
I think in the aftermath of this disaster a lot of people are going to be
second-guessing the actions of the rescuers. Just keep in mind that what
seems logical now is not always so obvious in the heat of the moment,
which is probably the main reason all those rescue workers lost their
lives when someone should have known that the building was due to
collapse.
That being said, I'm surprised that there weren't more measures in place
to rescue people from skyscrapers quickly. Correct me if I'm wrong, but
they were able to do virtually nothing, right? Seems to me that with all
our current technology we should be able to come up with some methods that
may save lives in the future. How about a helicopter carrying a long
cable with a large cage attached to it? Give the cage a nice padded floor
and a large opening and see how close you can get it to the window. Or
something smaller than a parachute that would slow people's fall to the
ground to survivable levels? Make it like an inflatable helium air bag
with a basic hand strap and belt clip and it could be very small. Or if
that won't work, they should be able to make emergency parachutes pretty
compact by now. I'm not saying that these are great ideas, just that we
need something done to help people in the future. Boats have lifeboats;
why don't skyscrapers have anything other than stairs and an elevator?
And does concrete really insulate the steel against heat better than, say,
those ceramic panels used on space shuttles for re-entry? That material
can't be too expensive... they make casserole dishes out of them, after
all. :)
Just venting some steam....
chris
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