Word: blasted
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...federal agencies involved in the case hammered out a protocol to govern the inquiry. The first priority was to stabilize the pillars that hold up the Vista Hotel on the Trade Center plaza and which were supported in turn by the garage floors that were ripped away in the blast. Before investigators can safely enter the blast site, workers must buttress the dangerous sagging remnants of the garage and lay a web of tubular steel beams across the crater left by the bomb. It may be days before investigators can begin to sift through the tons of debris for clues...
...Flight 103, in which debris was scattered for miles. Investigators in that case drew a life-size diagram of the plane on a warehouse floor, then set about reconstructing it piece by piece like a jigsaw puzzle. From that they could determine where in the plane's body the blast occurred, because "the metal would be bent to follow the contours of the vectors of the explosion," says Phillips...
Experts will also try to determine the velocity of the shock waves emanating from the blast. "Different compounds explode at different speeds," says Brian Jenkins, senior managing director for Kroll Associates, an international investigating firm. "You can tell by examining the metal that was torn apart. Was it a big explosion that moved a lot of things, or was it a high-velocity explosion that rent metal?" Sophisticated plastic explosives tend to shred metal and pulverize concrete, while common substances like dynamite tend to knock walls over and push vehicles around. Once investigators identify the substance, they will...
...high explosives. The bomber may have known that because the device would be detonated in the reinforced enclosure of a garage, it would deliver more bang for the buck. An enclosed area can double the "shock wave" value of an explosion. "When you have a contained explosion, the blast doesn't vent," says Phil Hough, president of International Explosives Disposal (USA). "Effectively the building becomes part of the bomb." Says Phillips: "The garage was the perfect location because of both the damage to the upper floors ((with smoke)) and structural damage the bomb would cause at the base...
...been raised. In the wake of the explosion, bomb threats forced the evacuation of the Empire State Building and Newark airport. Both threats were false, but no one was ready to dismiss the likelihood of another assault. Around the country, airports and other public facilities stepped up security. The blast was a reminder of the vulnerability of most American office buildings, shopping malls, airports and railway stations. Even the U.S. government has let its guard down since the mid-1980s, when American installations were on constant alert and concrete barriers were set up around many government buildings n Washington...