bomb threats in toronto?

toronto, it would appear, is not immune to, if not actual terrorist attacks, the threat of them, nonetheless.

on friday, july 22nd, a bomb threat was called in to 6 buildings in downtown toronto.

"they were notified of a bomb threat at 11 a.m. and by 11:05 a.m. a message was circulated to all units within the office tower" reads the article the globe & mail posted (click here for the full globe article). incidentally, a google search only turned up the globe article, and when i searched the toronto star and the national post directly, i found no mention. the cbc website returned this result. (7/25/2005)

in fact, no other major news source was listed on the first page of results from my google search for bomb threat toronto.

what's even more disturbing, is that i know someone who works in one of those buildings, and her employer only notified her of the possible threat against the building after an hour and a half! and even then, only by phone message or email. no audible mention on the office intercom. i understand the need to prevent panic, but to me that is utter disregard.

the globe article indicates that other firms in the building didn't notify their employees either. they say specifically:

"Some busineses didn't appear to alert their employees. Two men standing outside the north entrance to the TD Centre said they were from AGF insurance on the 31st floor and hadn't heard a thing about a bomb threat until they came out for lunch and saw the crowds outside the building."

have we grown so callous, so entrenched in the pursuit of power and money, that we would even choose to stay in the building under "voluntary evacuation" when there is a credible enough threat to issue the warning in the first place?

apparently so, because many of the management-level staff at my friend's office would rather play the odds and get some extra work done, than get the hell out with a cell phone and a laptop.

up to this writing, there are no bombs reported to be found in any of the six buildings. i guess those management-folk rolled the dice and really won big. this time....

/pk

oh yea... one last thing for your reading pleasure. the only other major news story about a bomb threat in toronto, on the first page of results on my google search, was this one (click here to read). thankfully, it too was just a hoax. or the poor imaginings of an unwell person.

from one unwell mind to another, i bid you adieu.