9/11 anniversary: Human, financial losses by the numbers

If you are a certain age, the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, will probably never be forgotten.

You witnessed scenes of destruction and horror that are still shocking and can’t be erased from your memory.

For property and casualty insurers and reinsurers, the impact of the 9/11 terrorist attacks was enormous, producing insured losses over $43 billion in 2015 dollars — and is still the largest insurance loss in global history, according to data from the Insurance Information Institute.

Losses were paid out across many different lines of insurance, including aviation, business interruption, liability, life, property and workers’ compensation.

Terrorism insurance

Terrorism insurance became a hot topic in the aftermath of the attacks. Terrorism risk insurance quickly became either unavailable or very expensive.

Congress reacted by passing the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act in 2002, which provided an assurance of government support after a catastrophic attack. This has helped keep terrorism risk insurance available and affordable for businesses.

Since its initial enactment in 2002, the terrorism risk insurance program has been revised and extended three times. The most recent extension — the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2015 — ensures its continuation until December 31, 2020.

Never forget

As we pause on Sunday to remember the human and financial losses that changed our world forever, here are some numbers that help tell the story of the impact of the events that took place in New York City; Shanksville, Pennsylvania; and Washingon, D.C., 15 years ago this month:

In this Sept. 24, 2001 file photo, Fritz Koenig’s “The Sphere” outdoor sculpture that once graced the plaza at New York’s World Trade Center lies in the wreckage following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The 25-ton, bronze sphere ripped open by the collapsing towers is returning to a spot overlooking the rebuilt site. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Thursday, July 21, 2016, approved plans to move the Koenig Sphere from its temporary place in Battery Park at Manhattan’s southern tip. The sculpture will grace the new Liberty Park overlooking the 9/11 memorial. No date has yet been set for the move. (Photo: Ted Warren/AP Photo)

$43.6 billion (in 2015 dollars)

Total insured losses from the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania, including property, life and liability insurance claim costs. (Source: Insurance Information Institute.)

In this Sept. 11, 2001 file photo, Julie McDermott, center, walks with other victims as they make their way amid debris near the World Trade Center in New York. (Photo: Gulnara Samoilova/AP Photo)

$123 billion

Estimated economic loss during the first 2-4 weeks after the World Trade Center towers collapsed in New York City, as well as decline in airline travel over next few years. (Source: CNN)

Steel I-beams and rubble cover the tracks of the New York City subway No. 1 and No. 9 lines in a tunnel under the World Trade Center, in this undated photo made available in New York, Friday on Sept. 28, 2001. New York City Transit officials determined that the damage was so extensive that more than one mile of the line had to be rebuilt. (Photo: New York City Transit via AP Photo)

$60 billion

Estimated cost of the World Trade Center site damage, including damage to surrounding buildings, infrastructure and subway facilities. (Source: CNN)

In this Sept. 16, 2001, file photo an American flag flies from a makeshift altar overlooking the ongoing investigation of the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pa. The plane crashed after being hijacked in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. (Photo: Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo)

$40 billion

Value of the emergency anti-terrorism package approved by the U.S. Congress on Sept. 14, 2001. (Source: CNN)

Planes sit on the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport after terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, in New York and Washington, D.C., caused the closure of several airports across the country and grounded all air traffic. (Photo: Mark J. Terrill/AP Photo)

$15 billion

This the amount of the aid package passed by Congress to bail out the airlines. (Source: CNN)

Damage to the outer ring of the Pentagon is shown on Sept. 11, 2001, after a hijacked airliner crashed into the building. (Photo: Steve Helber/AP Photo)

$1 billion

Damage to a portion of the Pentagon. (Source: Institute for the Analysis of Global Security)

One of the World Trade Center buildings collapses shortly after two planes crashed into the upper floors of both towers in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. (Photo: Pedro J. Cardenas/AP Photo)

$970 million

Total Federal Emergency Management Authority money spent on the emergency. (Source: New York Magazine)

A collapsed building and a fire truck at Ground Zero on Sept. 12, 2001, after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City. (Photo: Shawn Baldwin/AP Photo)

$750 million

Total cost of cleanup at Ground Zero. (Source: CNN)

In this Sept. 11, 2001, file photo, United Airlines Flight 175 closes in on World Trade Center Tower 2 in New York City, just before impact. (Photo: Carmen Taylor/AP Photo)

$385 million

Cost of the loss of four civilian aircraft on Sept. 11, 2001. (Source: Institute for the Analysis of Global Security)

Two men, indentified by authorities as suspected hijackers Mohamed Atta, right, and Abdulaziz Alomari, center, pass through airport security on Sept. 11, 2001 at Portland International Jetport in this photo from the airport surveillance tape. Authorities say the two men took a commuter flight to Boston before boarding American Airlines Flight 11 which was one of four jetliners hijacked Sept. 11, 2001, and one of two which were crashed into the World Trade Center. (Photo: Portland Police Department via AP Photo)

$500,000

Estimated amount of money it cost to plan and execute the 9/11 attacks. (Source: CNN)

Construction workers and firemen clearing rubble at the site of the World Trade Center four days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. (Photo: Wally Santana/AP Photo)

1.8 million

Tons of debris removed from the World Trade Center site. (Source: CNN)

People flee lower Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. (Photo: Daniel Shanken/AP Photo)

146,100

Number of jobs lost in New York after the attacks. (Source: New York Magazine)

People in front of New York City’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral react with horror as they look down Fifth Avenue toward the World Trade Center towers after planes crashed into their upper floors on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. (Photo: Marty Lederhandler/AP Photo)

3,051

Estimated number of children who lost a parent on Sept. 11, 2001. (Source: New York Magazine)

Members of the Fire Department of New York and family menbers salute a flag-draped coffin containing the remains of firefighter Keithroy M. Maynard of Engine Company 33 during funeral services in New York City on June 11, 2005. Maynard was one of seven members of Engine Company 33 to be killed on Sept. 11, 2001. Like other relatives of Sept. 11 victims, Maynard’s family held a memorial service two months after the attacks, but years more passed before his family felt that enough of his remains had been identified to hold a formal funeral, officials said. (Photo: Adam Rountree/AP Photo)

2,976

The total number of people who perished in the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington and Pennsylvania, excluding the 19 hijackers. (Source: Insurance Information Institute)

In this Sept. 11, 2001, file photo, firefighters walk through the rubble of the collapsed World Trade Center buildings after terrorists crashed two airliners into the towers. (Photo: Shawn Baldwin/AP Photo)

1,640

World Trade Center victims’ remains that have been positively identified, according to the medical examiner’s office, as of August 2016. (Source: CNN)

In this Sept. 13, 2001, photograph, people hold pictures of missing loved ones who were last seen at the World Trade Center when it was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. (Photo: Kathy Willens/AP Photo)

1,609

Number of people who lost a spouse or partner in the attacks. (Source: New York Magazine)

In this Sept. 20, 2001, file photo, Ground Zero is seen through a shattered window of an 18th floor apartment overlooking the World Trade Center site. After the 9/11 attacks, there were grim predictions about the future of the shaken, dust-covered neighborhoods around the World Trade Center. (Photo: Quyen Tran/AP Photo)

355

Number of Marsh Inc. employees who died in the 9/11 attacks. (Source: Statistic Brain Research Institute)

Ambulances are buried under rubble in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. (Photo: Shawn Baldwin/AP Photo)

343

Number of firefighter and paramedics killed. (Source: New York Magazine)

A destroyed fire truck on Sept. 14, 2001 near Ground Zero after the September 11 attacks. (Photo: Stuart Ramson/AP Photo)

98

Number of Fire Department of New York vehicles destroyed. (Source: New York Magazine)

Survivors of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks make their way through smoke, dust and debris on Fulton Street, about a block from the collapsed towers on Sept. 11, 2001, in New York City. (Photo: Gulnara Samoilova/AP Photo)

20

Percentage of Americans who knew somone hurt or killed in the attacks. (Source: New York Magazine)

David Pykon, right, and his fiancé Shelli Scrimale embrace while observing the 13th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center at the north pool of the memorial on Sept. 11, 2014, in New York City. Pykon’s brother, Edward Pykon, was killed during the September 11 attacks in 2001. (Photo: Julie Jacobson/AP Photo)

8

The number of child victims of 9/11, ranging in age from 2 to 11. (Source: WorldNetDaily)

The victims included:

- Christine Lee Hanson, 2, Groton, Massachusetts.
- David Brandhorst, 3, Los Angeles, California.
- Juliana McCourt, 4, New London, Connecticut.
- Bernard Brown II, 11, Washington, D.C.
- Asia Cottom, 11, Washington, D.C.
- Rodney Dickens, 11, Washington, D.C.
- Dana Falkenberg, 3, University Park, Maryland.
- Zoe Falkenberg, 8, University Park, Maryland.

Have you Liked us on Facebook?

Life Insurance