Vehicle born improvised explosive device (VBIED) in central Athens – Analysis
Posted by Arms Control Center in TERRORISM, tags: athens, Bombs in Athens, Greece, IED, improvised explosive devices, terrorism, Terrorist Bomb in Athens, VBIED, VBIED explosion, VBIED in Athens
A vehicle born improvised explosive device (VBIED) was exploded in a central area in Athens.
According to the news the car bomb exploded outside a Bank of Greece building in the heart of Athens Thursday, causing damage but no injuries.
According to the police two anonymous calls gave a 45-minute warning. Apart from a couple of security guards, nobody else was in the immediate area, which police swiftly cordoned off.
The news website that received one of the anonymous calls at 5:11 a.m. local time (0211 GMT) said the caller warned a bomb containing 75 kilograms (165 pounds) of explosives had been planted in a car. The Hellenic Arms Control Center, simulated the explosion of 75 kilograms of ANFO on the same ground zero in order to assess the claim of the terrorists.
Assuming 75 kilograms of ANFO then the TNT equivalent is rougly 55 kilograms of TNT (121 pouns). The safety distance from such an explosion would be 441 meters shown on the satellite map as a yellow circular zone aroung ground zero.
In such an explosion the following overpressures and damage radii would ensue around ground zero
At a distance of 110 meters an overpressure of 0.5 psi which would shatter glasses (blue zone on the video)
At a distance of 22 meters an overpressure of 5 psi would cause eardrum ruptures and incapacitation (red zone on the video)
At a distance 15 meters an overpressure of 10 psi would cause lung damage (not shown)
At a distance of 5 meters an overpressure of 100 psi would cause death to all humans (not shown)
Taking into account that various news reports stated that glasses were shattered to a distance of 200 meters and that the vehicle of the VBIED was totally destroyed by the explosion, EKEO believes that the quantity of the explosives could easily be 75 kilograms of ANFO.