New Study Puts Sept. 11 Payout at $38 Billion
/The families or loved ones of civilians killed on Sept. 11 received, on
average, $3.1 million in government and charitable awards. The families
of those who died in uniform that day - including police officers and
firefighters - received more, their average compensation exceeding $4.2
million. Insurance payments to businesses victimized by the terror
attacks, for property damage alone, totaled $7.5 billion. These
figures, some exceeding earlier estimates, others never before
captured, emerged yesterday from a formal study that was two years in
the making. It aimed to be the most comprehensive accounting of how
much victims and businesses affected by the Sept. 11 attacks have been
compensated by private and public means - an effort by charities and
government agencies unmatched in the country's history. In all, the
study, done by the Rand Corporation, a nonprofit research organization
based in Santa Monica, Calif., found that victims and businesses have
so far received $38.1 billion. Insurance companies accounted for the
single greatest share of payments, about $19.6 billion. Government
entities, including payments to individual families as well as loans to
small businesses near ground zero, gave out nearly $16 billion. On page
after page, the study gives more weight to the sense that the economic
response to Sept. 11 has played out in ways both remarkable and uneven
- "of a scope and scale never before seen," it says. And it does not
mince words: For one thing, it noted that the government was, at times,
ill-equipped to handle the crisis, citing in particular the often
criticized performance of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. [more]
- Bin Laden Expert Steps Forward [more]
