World Trade Center Stories - Day Three

From: Peter Chen

Hello,

I'm here in NY since last Thursday. I came out here on vacation with my
parents to visit one of my sister in Long Island. And yesterday, September
11, was a day of great shock, surreal disbelief, sadness and sorrow for all
of us.

Yesterday morning, my parents and I took the LIRR train(Long Island
RailRoad) from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station. We were supposed to catch the
8:30am train which would have gotten to the City around the time of the
horrific disaster at WTC. Luckily, we missed the train by a minute and had
to catch the 9:41am. But when we got on the train, there was already reports
coming out of the WTC collaspe. I had to ask other passengers several times,
because it was in such great disbelief and shock that such a horrible event
has happened. It wasn't until I saw the pictures from CNN that the horror
materialized in my mind. Before, it was just abstract as my train was
delayed.  Then finally, when we got to Wyandach stop, LIRR told all
passengers going Westbound toward Penn Station to get off the train since no
trains were allowed to go into the City by decreed then.
        
The eery thing was that just 2 days earlier on Sunday , Sept 9,2001, a
friend of mine from college and I were on top of the WTC having dinner at
the "Greatest Bar on Earth". The mood was festive. And looking outside the
window, I could see the harbor, Statue of Liberty, and the beautiful skyline
of NYC. Who would have known that only 2 days later, the very place where we
ate is destroyed by terrorists. I never felt more fortunate for our timing
and even sadder for those victims, because it could have been us if the
timing was different.  He called me Tuesday afternoon saying how we were
just there 2 days ago and how he saw the planes crashing in from his office
at the Citigroup building only a few blocks away only to be quickly
evacuated.

And tomorrow nite, I was supposed to meet an old high school friend of mine
that I haven't seen in close to a decade. She had just emailed me on Monday
nite about her dinner plans for us near Lower Manhatten where she works. And
that was the last I have heard from her. I have tried calling but the phone
circuits are extremely busy in the City.

Life is unpredictable. If anyone wants to know what's a "six sigma" event,
this is definitely one. No one could have predicted or modeled it.

Enjoy what you got now while it lasts...

Now, only if I can fly back SAFELY to cali soon..

peter



Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 18:14:58 -0400
From: Gilad Rosner
Subject: My Account of the World Trade Center Disaster

I walked out of my apartment at about 8:50am.  I saw what I at first
thought were clouds, and then realized was smoke to the West.  I knew it
had to be a large fire causing it, but I did not give it too much further
thought.  When I boarded the subway, a seemingly routine announcement came
on: "Due to an incident at the World Trade Center, trains will not be
stopping at Cortland Street."

An incident.

I walked out of the train at my stop, Bowling Green, wearing earplugs,
which is my custom because I believe the screech and howl of the trains
will cause damage in the long run. Walking through the station, I saw a
woman bawling quite openly as she got on the train I was exiting. Further
into the station, I saw a line 6 deep to use the pay phone. Both of these
were strange sights. Going up the stairs, I saw a set of looks on people's
faces that did not match up with what I would have expected for a 9am crowd
of Wall Streeters on their way into work. Upon emerging from the station, I
removed my earplugs, looked up and saw roiling smoke. Then I began to hear,
"A plane hit the World Trade Center!".... "Not one plane, two!"...."Oh my
God!"...."What's going on?"

I went into Battery Park and found the vantage point from which those first
pictures were taken (see the links below if you have not seen the
pictures). A woman begged me to use my cell phone, because hers was not
working. We could not get through to her husband or son. I went to look for
a store that might be open where I could buy a disposable camera; all the
drugstores were closed. I ran into a man I worked with, and told him I was
seeking a camera. He told me that we had a digital one in the office, which
was about 100 feet from us at the time. We went into the building, grabbed
the camera, and went to the point I had found in the park. I began taking
pictures. The camera battery died after those first nine shots, and, 45
seconds later, I watched the first tower collapse into itself. There was a
collective, incredulous "Oh my God," sprinkled with, "No."

"No."

People began to run, wailing as they went. We could all see the cloud of
ash and dust and smoke approaching at incredible speed. I told my friend
that if the ash storm reached us, we should drop to the ground, and breathe
as close to it as possible. He wanted to run, instead. I said we should
head for the waterfront, where the winds should keep the air cleanest. We
took off, and lost one another within a few minutes. Near the Ferry
station, a truck with uniforms and cleaning supplies had been opened, and 4
people were handing out cloth napkins and rags for people to cover their
mouths and noses. By that time, the air had become thick with ash, and
dark. It was surreal, the light had become diffuse, and there was a smokey
odor. I walked around in that haze for an hour or so, not sure what to do.
I found a group of park employees and civilians gathered around a radio.
While listening, we heard a loud rumbling, and as people started to come
unglued again, a few of the park employees shouted, "It's jets... it's only
jets." But the radio immediately informed us that it was the second tower
falling. A second cloud of ash and smoke blew our way, so I went into the
nearby Ferry complex. I watched from inside for about 15 minutes, then went
back outside when it seemed that the winds had died down. The streets were
mostly deserted; I came across an empty, ash-covered stroller, food and
diapers still inside it. I assume the parent removed her child and ran when
the first ash storm approached.

I returned to my office building, and made my way up to my office by way of
the freight elevator. People were gathered around a radio, listening to the
reports. I found my co-worker, Boris, who had originally secured the camera
for me. I asked him if he'd heard any news about my friend David and his
wife Anne, and he told me that they were OK and at home, and had called in.
I retrieved the camera (Boris had been in possession of it when the first
tower fell), and started up my computer. I emailed my girlfriend,
Chelle-Marie, in Boston, telling her I was OK, and asking her to contact my
mother, father, cousins and step-sister. I had been trying all morning to
call my mother from my cell phone, but the network was jammed. I watched
BBC World on the 'Net for about an hour, and charged the camera.

Ultimately, the order came to evacuate the building. I left, and walked
around my area, snapping off some photos with the partially charged camera.
I had some vague idea to walk towards the epicenter of the destruction, but
police were on the street in force, and I was turned away. One cop told me
that people could not be in the area because they had a "package" that was
being investigated. I walked north, zigzagging through the small streets of
the Wall Street area, taking more photos. I eventually came to the Brooklyn
Bridge, and joined the exodus walking across the East River.


I am scared, my friends.  Scared of the repercussions that will occur
because of this disaster.  Already, our president has used the word
"War."  We must protect ourselves, yes.  We must pursue and, ultimately,
punish...

However...

It is important for all of us in the coming months and years to not only
cherish the democratic, open society that we have built and reflect on our
great achievements, but we must also ensure that the perception of threat
and vulnerability does not undo our progress. If we remain free in ideal,
though we constrict the application of that freedom in the name of
security, the terrorists have won. There will be many calls soon for
extreme action, both abroad and at home. We must take heed of each of these
calls, and use our collective morality to make certain that we do not go
too far. George Bush has little experience that will help his already
beleaguered presidency through this crisis, and he will defer to the
conservative men and women that he has surrounded himself with to take
control of the nation's vulnerability. I have believed for some time that
people tend to know what the right and ethical thing to do is, but, these
days, fear may get the better of people's nature.  We must not allow the
tragedy of the deaths of so many people to become a tragedy of the death of
our liberty.


The photos:
http://madhouse.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=WorldTradeScenes
http://www.neuron.net/~roz/photos/WorldTradeScenes/
http://braverock.com/~roz/WorldTradeScenes/

Please feel free to forward this email or the photos.


Gilad Rosner



From: Rae Bradbury-Enslin
Subject: E-mail from steve

I don't normally forward stuff like this to folks, but I wanted to send this
one along. It was sent by a good friend of mine, after his friend sent it to
him.

Rae

To all our friends and web mates (who haven't already got this
message), this is an e-mail my Husband Steve (A U.S. AirForce Sgt in
Moscow) sent out from his side of the world at the moment.  This way
you know that there are those in other countries who feel deeply for
our loss....  Debbie

-------------

I'm kinda weirded out right now, so bear with me.

I'm so very glad to hear everyone's all right.  I pray for those who
aren't.  In times like these, we are reminded that our friends are
what keeps up going.

This morning, Jay and I caught a taxi to the Embassy.  It was what is
commonly referred to in Moscow as a "gypsy cab" - a private automobile
whose owner makes some money on the side diving people here and there.
We expats (expatriates - people who live in Moscow) are always warned
not to take these cabs because the drivers "will probably try to
overcharge you, and it may be a setup for a robbery".  Now, we DO take
them, all the time, and usually are not beaten and robbed, but the
fares can be pretty steep sometimes for an obvious foreigner dressed
in business clothes.

But it was raining and we really didn't feel like walking.  So we
hailed a cab.  We forgot to make arrangements for a price before we
left, which generally is a big mistake, but we didn't much care.  When
we arrived at the Embassy, we asked how much we owed.  The driver,
with a sort of pained expression on his face, answered in English,
even though he already knew we spoke Russian, "No money," with the
simple Russian word "Gorye" after it.  Gorye means sadness.

The reason I'm typing this (and almost crying while I do it in the
middle of the office) is this - we stand together.  People can say all
they want about the human race being untrustworthy or evil or ignorant
or just plain bad - they're wrong.  We stand together and we are
strong.  I pity those who live outside of that.  Those damned souls
who sanctioned and committed this cowardly act have forgotten it.
Today I shook the hand of a man who most likely had served in the
armed forces of my sworn enemy as he shared my sadness and horror.

This is just a little anecdote, like so many which will come out of
yesterday's events.  But I will never forget it.  Now, let those
cowards who did this dig down as deep as they can into the holes in
which they live.  Let them savor their fear as they realize what
they've done.  Let them know that they have sown the wind, and now
they shall reap the whirlwind.

God Bless Us All.

-with love and hope

Steve Souleyrette



From: Bill Venners
Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v387)
Subject: Re: Donations, Heroes, Sites                                                     Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Filed: friends

Alex,

Thanks for doing this email collection of experiences. Yours is the only
mailing list I consistently read in general, and it has been quite
comforting for me to read all the messages from people in New York.

I happen to be completely on the opposite side of the world from New
York, in Beijing, China. I spent Tuesday climbing on the Great Wall,
which has lasted 2000 years, only to watch on CNN  Tuesday night images
of the 30 year-old World Trade Center falling. Wednesday afternoon I
decided to take a walk to just clear my head, and by chance discovered
the American Embassy a few blocks from my hotel. When I saw the American
flag flying at half staff, I just felt very, very sad. I stood there for
a while, looking at the building. A few reporters were parked outside.
They told me there is a seminar in Beijing right now attended by former
world leaders, many of whom had been visiting the embassy offering their
condolences. As I stood there, a former Japanese prime minister and our
own Zbigniew Brzezinski came out. One of the reporters mentioned that at
the next corner people had laid flowers, and I walked down to the corner
for some reason picturing images of the seas of flowers laid down for
Princess Dianna. But when I arrived at the corner only two bouquets lay
against the wall. This morning on my jog there were only four bouquets.
I guess the Chinese don't do flowers.

Anyway, I am OK. I am planning to fly inside China this weekend, which
frankly is a scary prospect on its own because of the dubious level of
Chinese air safety. If I make it through that, I'm off to Malaysia mid
next week. Malaysia is my girlfriend Siew's home country, and I have
visited there many times. I very much like Malaysia, both because of the
really nice people I meet there, primarily Siew's family and friends,
but also because of the food, which is frankly the best I've encountered
anywhere. But Malaysia is a Muslim country with a tradition of
anti-American rhetoric. It will be interesting to see their reaction to
the events of this week, and to any actions the U.S. takes in response.
If all goes as planned, I'll be returning to the U.S. the following week.

Bill Venners
Artima Software, Inc.
http://www.artima.com                                                                     




From: Seno Park
Subject: Re: [foobot] Re: Are you ok?

My company is located in one block south of WTC, and I
was on my way to CIBC(one of our client) which is in
the World Financial Center at 8:40am.  I witnessed the
first attack, ran, saw the second plane flying over my
head crashing into the other building, ran, then came
back to my company only to witness the whole thing
collapsing in front of my eyes!  I ran again, and all
the people in my building were trapped in the lobby
since it was completely black outside.  20 minutes of
anguish, and just when we were about to come out as it
clears, second one collapsed.  Blackout again... I saw
people jumping off the windows, suffering ashma and
heart attacks when we were all trapped.
The whole thing still doesn't seem real to me.  I am
glad everyone is fine.



--- Thomas LeRoux wrote:

Nona and I are ok.  

I was at work during the incident..  I saw what looked like a
tickertape parade with paper flying all over the place.  I peeked over
at the WTC, and saw the first fire.  I checked cnn.com to see what was
going on, only to hear the conference room erupt with horror as the
second plane hit.  They evacuated the building a few minutes
thereafter, and I started hoofing it uptown.  My route took me up
Broadway - which probably was not a smart move.  I was about 6 blocks
north of the WTC when the first tower collapsed, but made it unscathed
from the smoke and debris.
  
This is some sick and scary shit - the worst I've seen in my life.  I
hope everyone's ok, as with friends and family.
    
-Tom  

-

------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 20:08:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mitch Golden
Subject: I am okay

First I want to thank everyone for the messages and inquiries about
how I was doing.  I am sorry the delay responding - though I was
entirely unscathed by yesterday's events, my ISP was not.  I haven't
been able to dial in since about midday yesterday.  I am sending this
from the home of a friend who has DSL.

I was sitting in my home in Brooklyn, about 6 miles from the WTC,
composing an e-mail message when I heard on the radio that a plane had
crashed in to one of the towers.  At the time the reports were of a
small plane, and I kept thinking of the pictures of the time a plane
crashed into the Empire State Building in the 1940s.  When I heard
about a second plane crashing, I made the illogical leap to assume
that it was some sort of technical problem with air traffic control -
I believed that the idea that _two_ planes had been hijacked was not a
possibility.

Only about 15 minutes in did I turn on the TV.  I don't have cable,
and I could only receive channel 2, WCBS.  I don't know how long it
took me to connect this with the idea that the other stations were off
the air because they were broadcast from the top of the WTC.  I was
watching TV when the towers collapsed.

I live about 8 blocks from a hospital, and I twice tried to give blood
yesterday, but was turned away both times.

I decided to stay off the phone yesterday and today - it seemed like
others needed the intermittent phone service more than I - and so I
was at home not doing much of anything yesterday.  I hung out with a
friend in the neighborhood.  Today I programmed a bit and did laundry.

I am sure I have acquaintances who died.  I can only think about the
large number of times I was in the WTC.

I am fearful of what happens next.  A large part of the financial
industry in NYC has been destroyed.  I would have more confidence that
we will be able to rebuild it if we had a different President, but I
expect that he's going to do nothing for us.

Once again, my thanks for all the best wishes.

  - Mitch



From: "alison \(Chak\)"
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 11:33:01 -0400

Thank you for the notes.  I am glad to hear from anyone, even people I don't
know, to hear that people are alive and well, and telling their families
that they love them.  Everything matters right now.

I ask everyone who is reading this to please view the news and all of the
many reports -- anecdotal and broadcast -- with objectivity. We are all
angry and want revenge, but I fear errors of judgment when I see news clips
of people allegedly celebrating this terrorist strike.  We really don't know
what those people are celebrating.  We see happy children and adults with
smiles and flags.  What we are being shown could be the aftermath of a
successful soccer game.  News reports are telling us that they are
celebrating American deaths.  They may be, or they may not be.  Personally,
I didn't see burning flags, interviews, or anyone burning in effigy.  I just
saw happy people.  There could be mistakes made at any time, especially at a
time as an emotionally trying and confusing as this.  And, news reports
could be wrong.  We must remain objective.

Even if the people we see on the news are celebrating deaths, it is not
right to condemn a whole country.  Think of how many irrational idiots we
have in our own country.

Every country -- including Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran -- has
innocent people in it.  People that condemn terrorism, human rights abuses,
violence and hatred.  Hate terrorism, but not a specific ethnicity.

Thanks,
Alison Matochak




From: harveyk
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 23:44:18 +0800
Subject: a few glimmers of humanity  #1  

glimmer 1:

yesterday afternoon, i wandered around downtown, as most people down
here seem to be doing, stopping by some friends' apts, watching the
news on tv, congregating at various random places, ...

a bunch of people ended up on west street by christopher. west street
runs along the hudson river, from all the way uptown to all the way
downtown, and is a major route for police cars, ambulances, emergency
trucks, etc. it is closed to normal traffic.

spontaneously, people started to wave and cheer the passing
firemen/women, police officers, construction workers, emt people, con
ed workers, and (believe it or not!) even the verizon engineers.

more people wandered over. some carried homemade signs with things
like "you are our heros!" and "god bless america" scribbled on ripped
pieces of cardboard boxes. many wavedamerican flags; many brought
bottled water, ran alongside the trucks, handed them to the weary and
dust-covered emergency workers. all shouted "thank you!" at the top of
their lungs.

by about 7pm or so, there were probably thousands of people along
those few blocks, many stayed straight throught the night, and there
are still people there now.

Subject: glimmer the second  

another glimmer (really a blazing beacon) of humanity:

a friend of mine who many of you may know but who wishes to remain
anonymous was in the wtc when the plane crashed into the building only
about 3 or 4 floors away from her.

in the confusion that followed, she lost her crutches and she can not
walk without them, not even a single step. a man, running for his very
own life, stopped in his tracks and lifted my friend on his
shoulders. he carried her down a flight or two of stairs until his
legs almost gave out. then some other selfless man took her down
another flight or two, and the chain continued, for about 20
stories. finally, some very strong younger mangrabbed her and slowly
carried her down another 20 stories, all by himself, his body
trembling from exhaustion, but still he continued, risking his own
life for her, a relative stranger (they worked at the same firm, but
did not really know each other).  they got to the concourse and then
he carried her out of the building through the smoke and dust, to
safety.

that man and all who helped and risked their lives, are true
heros. they reaffirm our faith in humanity and the true goodness of
people. they stand in stark contrast to the inhuman tragedy that
surrounds us.  --




From: "David Koosis"
Subject: Re: More OK
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 14:11:52 -0400

Alex:

Thanks for asking.

New Yorkers are doing what they do best: pulling together in the face
of adversity.

My wife was 2 blocks from the blast, outside 1 Chase Plaza.  She got
thrown to the ground and now looks like she lost a prize fight.  Her
right eyebrow, lip, elbow, and wrist are cut up, requiring some
stitches.  My employees and immediate family are all alive and OK.

David Koosis
/dk



From: "Bailey, Christopher"
Subject: web resources for missing persons during this tragedy  
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 16:05:16 -0400

All

I have a colleague who has a missing friend.  She had asked if I had been
made aware of any resources where she might be able to post a photo and/or
description of her friend.  I suggested the following:

http://home.nyc.gov/find.html
http://worldtradeaftermath.com/wta/okay/
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/12/national/WTC-NAVIGATOR.html?pagewanted=all#emergency

If anyone has any others that they might know of, please let me know OFF
LIST.  (In the event that someone has an e-mail lying around that may have a
collection and I've discarded it, please forgive me and please forward it
along to me.

I will make a comprehensive list and submit it to worldtradeaftermath.com
and will make it available to anyone looking for this information off list.

Many thanks in advance,
Christopher


From: "Silicon Alley Daily"

Dispatch from the Rescue Effort

 With New Yorkers turning out in droves to donate blood and pitch in
to the relief effort, Pseudo.com co-founder Robert Galinsky
contributed by traveling yesterday to the site of Tuesday's
destruction. Galinsky is now director of new media and technology at
Arts International, a non-profit group supporting the arts.
 
by Robert Galinsky

I made my way to ground zero Wednesday morning. I set out at 6:55
a.m., lying to get through approximately nine police checkpoints
throughout the East Village and Chinatown. I dressed with a hard hat,
plaid workman's shirt, filter mask, and gloves. I felt the outfit was
as authentic looking as it could be, and my route down the Lower East
Side of Manhattan would be my best bet.

With police blocks on every corner, I had my story and stuck to it: I
volunteered yesterday on Kenmare and North Moore and was told to go
to meet my group on Chambers and Church at 7:30. They kept on letting
me through. At two locations I had to show ID and talk to a sergeant.
Finally I was walking down Franklin Street off of Broadway ankle deep
in dust and soot.

I saw a deli on the corner with plastic containers of watermelon and
fruit, flowers and spring water. As I got closer, I noticed it was
veiled in a thin mist of dust. The store was closed and abandoned. I
turned another corner and came face to face with a group of
firefighters putting out fire from Building Number 7. The building
was slumped over, oozing smoke and water. It looked like a helpless
whale, gasping and dying on the beach. I then moved past skeletal
cars, buses, and rescue vehicles. I arrived at Tower One in the first
moments that rescuers were stepping onto the delicate debris and
twisted wreck. I immediately joined them.

We made a bucket brigade line and started digging. I went to the
front of the line, near the digging. We began to hand the debris back
through the line. In front of me was a block-wide crater filled with
metal. To my left was a giant hole with a ladder leading downward.
Dogs were sniffing for bodies and about 10 to 15 men crawled through
long lengths of foundation trying to get into crevices.

The still-standing facade of some of the building looked like
honeycomb sculptures stabbed into the ground. Most of what we dug
through was plaster, concrete, and office paperwork--tons and tons of
paperwork. Printouts of employee review sheets, e-mail, training
guides, and interoffice memos. I saw a penny loafer, a black
high-heel shoe, a Raggedy Ann doll, pieces of desk, and a jacket. Two
bodies were pulled out from three levels below the ground. No more
bodies were found between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. The rescuers went three
levels below the earth to look. No more bodies.

Throughout the effort we could feel the wreckage getting hot under
our feet as we moved from place to place. Some debris was still
steaming as we passed it backwards. We had to retreat from one area
because a nearby building looked unsafe. When I first arrived, I
expected to see the great World Trade Center's 110 stories in a heap
at least three to six stories high. Instead it had been reduced to a
smoldering crater of brown concrete and reams of paper.

Before I arrived I was told to have a strong stomach for the presumed
body parts littering the area. But I saw none. My good feeling is
that many people got out and therefore we saw no human carnage. My
bad feeling is that many people were not found because they were
disintegrated and incinerated. As I began to walk out of the scene
towards home, I kept a steel claw tool in my hand, wanting to stay
authentic to the end so I'd have no hassles at all. It didn't matter:
No one was interested in why I should or shouldn't be there. Everyone
was focused on the rescue effort. The mood in there was not grim, not
solemn, not sad. It was workmanlike. It was calm and efficient and
empowering.

Feedback: mailto:letters@siliconalleyreporter.com
.....................................................................