World Trade Center Stories - Day One

From: Alex

Please take care, and remember to find friends: there's strength and
comfort in numbers.


From: Kieron Murphy

Two other quick thoughts. The skies above NYC are empty, except for the
high-pitch of unseen fighter aircraft and a very noticeable crescent moon.
And the sidewalks of New York are crowded with hundreds of thousands of
people, all very somber.


From: vivian selbo

The view south from Thompson and Houston is bizarre without the towers
gone, and the sky is a big cloud of smoke. We heard the first plane buzz
over, sounding like a military jet it was so low, and then a big thump. We
were at 14th and 9th Ave when we saw the north tower collapse. The streets
are full of people and there are very few cars -- biking was never so easy.

Viv



From: Karen McGrath

Extremely nauseated. A bit shaky.

But certainly OK, relatively speaking.

I watched the buildings come down from a deck less than 2 miles away. The
term surreal is probably an understatement. I wasn't sure whether I was
going to cry or throw up.

Now I look at the New York skyline, and still it doesn't quite register. I
keep thinking "they really did it". Many have wanted to for years, but
never quite could. And as I watched the first building slide down, I just
thought "they did it".

A neighbor rushed up to the deck earlier, saying "my best friend works on
the 73rd floor. Oh my God." Another neighbor and I looked at eachother,
knowing the planes hit high in both buildings. Then the first said "Man,
you can't even see them through all the smoke." Again we exchanged glances
and I said "Uh, they're gone." "What? What do you mean?" "They're both
gone - one just minutes ago, and the other about 20 minutes before." His
hands were shaking. We had a building 1 survivor come back - he was in
the stairwell when the plane hit the second building.

It looked like a movie. It was a cheesy Hollywood blockbuster movie. But
the screen was really fucking big, and about the best resolution I've
seen.

K


From: Lennart Jorelid

My condolences to the American people; it is hard to
imagine what horrors have actually taken place during
and immediately following the events we have seen
broadcast for the last hours.

Our sympathies stretch from the old world across the
Atlantic. Peace be with you all.



From: Tom Klinkowstein

The city is calm and responding well to the tragedy.


From: "Guy Elden, Jr."

I'm ok... I worked on the 80th floor of the building that collapsed second,
but thank god I was on my way to work when it happened. I managed to get
downtown about 9:30am, saw the buildings on fire, turned around and went
home. Then I heard about the collapse. Absolutely horrific.


From: "David Olson" 

Hey, all...

Steve Warren and I are both safe and sound here on the Jersey side of
the situation.  Hope that +you are all well and safe.  The skyline
certainly looks bizarre at the moment...it's almost +impossible to
think of the people that were inside them.  I'm still trying to wrap
my head +around what happened and what it means on a personal level,
as someone living in the Manhattan +area, and just as a human being in
general.  Strange as it sounds, the priorities in my life +have
already begun shifting...

Any reports from any no-enders in the City as far as how people are
reacting on the street?

And thanks, Alex, for getting people on the list to check in.  I'm
hoping that you're all well +and safe, and that we'll all be seeing
each other soon.



From: marjorie ingall

just to offer a note of humanity: so far, new yorkers are sticking together.
people are comforting one another in the streets, hugging. lines at banks and
grocery stores are orderly. peolple are gathered around radios sharing
information, sharing cell phones. people are inviting stranded folks into their
homes. we have folks at our apt who were evacuated from their apts in tribeca.
my friend who lives in queens and works in midtown was given a ride home in the
back of a fruit truck.

i still have cousins unaccounted for. my immediate family is fine.

it is a nightmare, but new yorkers are behaving nobly and i hope and pray this
continues.

--m



Alex's thoughts:

Here comes the Police State.  It'll take more than a driver's license
to get on a plane: we're talking thumbprint and DNA test.

Bush's first words were about retaliation.  That means we're going to
bomb some other downtown near where these assholes might live.

W is talking about retaliation and punishment.  Asshole.



BLOOD

Todd Drake:
i assume you can walk into any hospital

I heard the line is really long so you may want to wait for a few hours.
Thanks

Saint Vincent's is asking for people to give blood as soon as possible.
So if you are in the area please stop by.

Saint Vincent Medical Centers
St. Vincent's Manhattan
170 West 12th Street, New York, NY 10011
212-604-7000





From: Karen McGrath

>From the lower East Side, about 2 miles from WTC (and 2 blocks from
Marjorie)...

Oddly, it's becoming more emotional as time goes on. It's like we don't
have an ability to process right away, so we are initially gaping
spectators. For more than an hour, my state was primarily
shock and disorientation. And it feels somehow callous in retrospect -
almost casually talking with neighbors, watching the buildings tumble like
video footage of a Las Vegas casino implosion. But I guess we react
largely according to experience, and there just isn't a precedent for most
of us.

I know it has been said that it was like watching a movie, and it may
sound cliched, but it is so true. We've seen it countless times,
encapsulated in 2 dimensions, from a dark, still room. But it just didn't
compute with the sun beating down, and the breeze, and the peripheral
vision... the sound of aircraft - not commercial, not helicopters -
difficult to see against the sun, but unmistakeably military.

And the reaction just keeps coming back to "they're gone" - on the street,
on the 5th floor deck from which we see just empty space behind the smoke.
People are beginning to think about the human element - people on the
planes, in the WTC buildings. As Marjorie said, people really do seem to
be taking care of eachother. I was just downstairs and saw a police car
flag down a lincoln town car - there was a disabled woman who needed to
get home, and the car stopped for her, no questions asked. Everyone is
being told to leave lower Manhattan on foot, but of course not everyone
can walk.

We're waiting to hear where to go to offer assistance - the hospitals are
actually overloaded.




From: Carl Muckenhoupt 

For what it's worth, someone here pointed out that she's never seen so many
people in business suits walking through the East Village.  It's because the
subway is shut down, and everyone who's been evacuated from the financial
district has to get home.




From: "samios.net" 

Alex, I live on chambers street so we are right in the soot, like
snow. Two things were very disturbing, one was the collective scream
coming from down on greenwich street when the plane went by and hit
(they could see the towers, but we're looking north). Second was that
from our neighbors south terrace we could see people jumping or
falling from the WTC. They looked larger than you would think, and it
was terrible.

We are uptown now. Hope all on your list are ok.



There's a photo of the still-smoking second tower at
http://www.graphpaper.com



From: David Gochfeld

i don't have much to add.  i'm ok.  the first crash woke me up -- i heard a
loud thump and then lots of screaming -- sort of what i always imagined
Obi-Wan Kenobi heard when Alderan was destroyed.  My first thought was that
the builing they'd been constructing behind my house had collapsed.  I heard
screaming and crying.  Then I looked out the window and saw it.

I missed the second crash cause i was scrambling for film and my camera.  i
got lots of photos,from my roof but missed both collapses because i was inside
changing film for each of them.  i walked along canal street and up 6th ave --
swarms of people walking up from downtown, walking home over manhattan bridge.
 many people had been given dust-masks.  saw one cop car that had been very
earby -- totally covered in dust and debris, rear window smashed in.  lots o
people not really knowing what to do.  and lots of other poeple just going on
as usual, tho subways weren't running.

saw one man who'd been in one of the buildings.  he was ok, schmutz in his
hair, being interviewed.

streets are very empty -- like fifth ave the day of a parade but everywhere.
and swarms of people on the sidewalk.  huge billow of smoke covering all
downtown, from the site of the collapse and east across the river to
brooklyn.

i'm a bit shaken.  periodically tears start to well up.  i'm tremoring a
little.  i'm at work now, waiting for my slides to be processed at a lab
nearby.  guys here got video of the second plane crash and explosion.  so
fucking scary.

i haven't heard much else -- other than the pentagon and several other planes
were hijaked.  guessi'll listen to the radio a bit.

how are you?

-dave



From: Sarah G Lefton

there is a beautifu lstream of people walking over the brooklyn bridge,
and apparently the manhattan and williamsburg too.

it looks liek the marathon from the arial shots.

indeed, 2nd avenue is very strange. very clear. people talking about where
to donate blood. i saw 2 MTA busses stream by full of FDNY in uniform.



From: rich

I just got back from stocking up with food supplies. The roads are
fairly crowded out here in Queens, and there's long backups on any road
heading to bridges, as they're all closed. I noted to my friend in the
car that this was the first time in my life I haven't seen a jet in the
sky over NYC.

The most eery moment, though, came when heading north on the Van Wyck...
there's an overpass where you have a complete view of the Manhattan
skyline on your left, and everyone slowed down to get a look. From 14
miles away the smoke surrounding lower manhattan is mindboggling, and of
course there are no more WT towers. At least the wind was blowing south,
carrying the smoke out in the harbor instead of uptown. I didn't bring
my digital camera with me, unfortunately. I did see one National Guard
hummer out, but only one.

If you're in NYC please donate blood. Any hospital will do it in the
area.

Finally, as I was typing this I heard a jet fly over and ran to the
window.... it was one F-18 just  headed Northwest across Queens towards
upper Manhattan and I also noticed an F-15 passed heading southeast
fairly high up. I think it's just starting to sink in. Another F-18
seems to be making fairly broad circles over southern Queens.

My friend's sister who works in the WTC is safe --- she was luckily in
court in Brooklyn (she works for the Port Authority in the WTC).

That's it for now.

R.


===

From: Jaime Levy

this is a total scene here. the East Village is packed with people on
the streets. only plain slices today and nothing in the display pizza
panels at 2 boots. everything else is closed. dirt everywhere and my
eyes are stinging.


From: "Maegan M. Mundi"

I have great sympathy for the victims of today's tragedy, and I add it
to the pile of sympathy that already exists for all those that have
lost life and loved ones due to America's policies.

When I saw the headlines on Excite, "US Terrorist Attacks," I thought,
"oh, no, who did we attack now?"

Private or not, as you see fit.



From: Agent_X

I'm looking for first hand experiences about todays events to post on
Guerrillanews.org. If you have experiences mail them to me at
ax@guerrillanews.org.
Thank you, and good luck.
--
Agent X
   


From: John Haller
To:
Subject: [New York City CoF] Terrorist Attack
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2001 13:51:43 -0400
X-Priority: 3
Cc:

Here is an update for everyone:

I had 2 friends in or near the World Trade Center when the attacks
took place.  One of them was actually in Tower 1 when the 1st plane
hit.  They immediately began evacuating both towers.  The second plane
hit the building he was in while he was in the stairway being
evacuated.  He made it out ok before the collapse and got to a safe
distance.  He was on th 61st floor at the time.  So, there is a good
chance that people we know may have made it out ok.

The other news is more unfortunate.  Many people stayed and watched
the fire burn after the 1st plane hit.  When the second hit, alot of
rubble tumbled down onto the street.  My other friend hid behind the
pillars of the Deutsche Bank building when this happened and was ok.
He left the area afterward, but said that alot of people were still
standing there watching.  Unfortunately, many may have still been
there when the towers collapsed.

I will be creating a website for people to post updates on conditions
and locations of people affected.  It will be at
www.worldtradeaftermath.com and should be online tomorrow.  I may end
up all night working on it.  For now, I have some pictures and info on
people I know being ok on my personal homepage:
http://johnhaller.com/jh/terrorist/ If anyone has any more
information, please let me know.

Good wishes to all.

John Haller



From: "Guy Elden, Jr."

> Guys, Craig runs Craig's List, a fairly large SF online community.
> There's a chance this will be picked up by the mainstream press.  I
> hope this is OK.

No problem whatsoever. I'm still trying to digest all of the images I've seen
on TV, the image of the burning buildings I saw personally, and just the whole
magnitude of the situation. People have been incredibly calm from what I've
seen, orderly, but in large numbers. I went outside my apartment up here at
73rd st & 1st ave around 3pm to get a sandwich at the subway a few blocks away,
and tried to go to the blood donation center on 67th st... too packed with
people, so they were handing out cards for people to come back tomorrow to
attempt to give blood. I think I also heard them ask specifically for type-O
negative, but I can't be sure.

I just hope the folks in my office made it. I worked at TheBeast, a financial
software development company, and haven't heard a word from anybody. Everything
we had was in tower 1, so effectively our company has just been eliminated
from existence. I just hope everybody survived (or will survive if they are
trapped in the rubble) somehow.




From: marjorie ingall

my friend was turned away from nyu hospital--they're turning away
everyone, even with type O blood. they're just too
overwhelmed. another friend made an appointment at beth israel to give
on wednesday. he had to wait in line for two hours just to make the
appt.

i am so glad people are turning out to do this. i know how few people
can actually give, because of all the restrictions or b/c they get
sick when they do, so i am so grateful to my fellow nyers.

i love to give blood (free cookies), but they don't let 8 months
pregnant women donate, silly people.



From: Steev Hise

according to craig's list even bloodbanks here in the bay
area are overwhelemed. wow.



From: Andy Deck 

Hi Folks,

I'm okay.  Just left the apartment for a few hours
because it was unknown whether the air was poisoned.
But it's a clear day and the smoke is blowing to the
east.

I hope that these events will motivate reconsideration
of isolationist American policies that have angered so many
people both at home and abroad.  Unfortunately, it appears
that, on the contrary, fear will be used to justify
further constrictions of free speech and civil liberties.



From: Dan Bluestein

Another thing is if you know anyone, or know someone who knows someone,
who is stranded at a Bay Area airport and needs a couch to crash on or
a ride somewhere, feel free to give them my phone number.



From: Elizabeth Zimmer

apparently they need clothes at St. Vincents, for people whose clothes
were blown off. Volunteers available there to guide you....





Tom Clancy on TV: "They don't do this [terrorism] because they're
religious.  They do this because they're fools."



From: "Nate Zelnick"

I moved out of ny--out of my tribeca apt six blocks away from the WTC--three
weeks ago so I'm fine, but deeply, deeply shaken by this. all I can think
about is the horror of the fire and rescue workers caught in the collapses
or about all of the people who were moving through that huge complex at 9am
on the 1,2,3,  9,A,C,E and PATH trains or walking through the shopping
complex.



From: Jerome Adler
 
I'm about six miles north on the upper west side, the sun is shining, the
sky is blue, there are no signs of the devastation downtown except for a
certain solemnity on people's faces as we pass in the street. We are
getting the news just like you, on TV.

I tried to give blood this morning, but there was about a three hour
wait, so I plan to give this evening.  It was a good feeling to know that
so many responded so fast.

My wife teaches at a high school in Chelsea - She had to console many
students whose parents worked at the WTC - What else can you say?



From: Steve Leibel

I took some photos this morning, including a sequence of the second
tower collapsing.  I put them up at

  http://www.bluetuna.com/wtc/.




From: Jenny Cool

the news, thoughts and concerns on this list regarding today's tragic
events are so much more heartening than what's being dished out o'er
the air.  one wants to feel connected at a time like this, but I just
can't relate to Peter Jennings, et al. so, thanks list and thanks
Rusty, Alex, Marjorie for your posts.

The only thing I can bear witness to is my own chagrin with the
immediate reactions of folks like Kissinger and W. Like Alex said,
they go straight for their holsters with talk of retribution, as
these quotes from Reuters show:
http://www.reuters.com/fullstory.jsp?type=topnews&StoryID=212399


Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told CNN, "This is
comparable to Pearl Harbor and we must have the same response and the
people who did it must have the same end as the people who attacked
Pearl Harbor."

[You mean they must get, not one, but two atomic weapons in response???!]

"Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those
responsible for these cowardly acts," the president said.


As if might and retribution were a sensible response in a world where
anyone with a flight simulator and enough hate can change the New
York skyline.

peace, Jenny//



From: Karen McGrath 
Subject: Quiet
X-Filed: friends


The Lower East Side in Manhattan, by all accounts a pretty lively late
night neighborhood, is just silent. For the time being, even the sirens
are gone, and the only sound is what seems like a faint humm of an air
conditioner.

I was outside just before 1:00 am, and the streets were nearly deserted.
There were police and National Guard gathered around roadblocks,
emergency vehicles of any and every variety, clusters of bicyclists, and a
few people scattered in the few businesses whose doors were open.

But the quiet seems out of proportion to the lack of people, or lack of
business being conducted. I'm trying to think through exactly what usual
ambient noise is missing - car horns, music, shouts and laughter, doors
opening and closing...
 
Smoke still surrounds the site of the WTC, but it just looks like a bit
of low evening fog, slowly drifting East. Several nearby buildings
are dark, making the hole look even bigger.

It's hard to know when the smoke will clear, but either way, tomorrow
morning will be very, very strange.

K



From: Alex Chaffee

[To answer Dave's two points of fact:

Cell phones do work in the air.  Better than the ground, in fact: it's
easier to get line-of-sight to the cell stations.  They're prohibited
on planes due to fear, mostly unwarranted, about radio interference
with cockpit devices.  (Modern cell phones leak a lot less than the
clunky devices of the early eighties, when these prohibitions were put
in place.)

Also, as for why the buildings imploded, as I heard it on the news,
the collision and fire damaged the support structures of the building;
then, when the part above the fire fell down, it was heavy enough to
bring the lower parts with it, which fell on top of further lower
structures, and so on.  The buildings fell straight down because
that's where gravity was.  Not suspicious.  Any architects or
engineers, please feel free to correct or expand.

 - Alex]

----- Forwarded message from David Gochfeld -----

hey --

man, southern manhattan is fuckin' eerie tonight.  they've shut it all
down -- it's a total dead zone.  i was actually worried they wouldn't
let me in to get home as i have no proof of my current address -- but
i got out of the subway below the police lines on 1st ave and just
kept walking.  am told i'll need to have proof of my address tomorrow
or i might get arrested for just being down here.

i spent the evening at the staging area for the search and rescue
operation.  periodically, groups of veyr weary, very dusty
firefighters would stagger up the west side highway, and look around
in a daze trying to find their truck, or the rest of their unit.
large demolition equipment started heading downtown around 9pm, to
start clearing the debris.  About the same time, they sent all the
volunteers home from the triage point, saying they didn't expect any
more wounded tonight -- anybody they were going to pull out now was
going to be dead.  the radio is reporting cell phone calls from
survivors trapped in the basement, but who knows how many.  and the
fire is still burning i believe, so they can't get in to them yet.
there may still be people trapped alive in adjacent buildings.

still listening to the radio -- what i want to know is how people
placed cell phone calls from the airplanes?  i thought cells don't
work in the air?  and the other question is -- the north tower was hit
very high, and yet also collapsed completely.  how did that happen?  a
fireman who was talking to the press said he was really suspicious
about that.  or were the buildings really that fragile?

so, in other news, I sold a photo to the AP today.  not an important
one, but it's still a sort of breakthrough.  i wish the circumstances
weren't so horrible.
 
i'm now afraid to go to sleep.  the sounds i heard when i woke this
morning just keep going through my head.  i'm scared to look out my
window in the daylight -- i know what should be there will not be
there.

but i'm also thoroughly exhausted.

i have very mixed feelings about flying west this weekend.  I dunno if
i'm going to be able to muster the courage.

good night all.

-dave


ugh.