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Eyewitness to Tragedy
E-mail from a contact
| September 11, 2001
| source known but anonymity protected
Posted on 09/11/2001 10:23:08 AM PDT by NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
I am a genuine eye/earwitness. I saw it all. My apartment is 1 block from ground zero. I was watching out the window when the 2nd plane hit. My building was rocked.
Lower Manhattan is shut to the world, but I have phone and internet access.
I ventured down to the street, 1 block from the WTC. The streets are about 1-2" thick with gritty white ash and paper trash. It looks like a volcano zone with ash covering everything.
The street is mostly deserted, except for baffled firemen and a few policemen, who don't know what to do. There are ambulances parked in front, but no crews to be found. The people outside are aimless. No crying, no panic, no hysteria, no looting. Mostly deserted (evacuated).
The front door of my apartment building was blown out and is shattered in the lobby. The lobby is 2" deep in ash.
The air is thick with gritty particulate stuff that stings your eyes, but aside from smelling smokey, it doesn't seem to be poisonous. Every few minutes, there is the a small explosion, which may be gas lines or other stuff lighting up.
From 1 block away, I can see the base of the south WTC tower. All that is left is some black structural steel, perhaps 3-4 stories high, leaning northbound like the Tower of Pisa. The WTC was silvery-white. What remains is a blackened foundation. The visibility doesn't allow to see what must be an unbelievable mound of rubble from 108 stories of building collapse. There are a few large girders strewn around the block, that fell out of the sky.
There are no injured to be seen. Presumbly they have been evacuated, or are buried.
There have to be 50,000 buried within a few hundred yards of here. Surely some of them are still alive.
Ironically, the sun is trying to peep through the smoke and soot.
TOPICS: Announcements; News/Current Events
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Please give blood today. Call your local hospital or blood collection center and see how you can help. When flights are resumed, assuming emergency flights get priority, blood can be flown into the overwhelmed trauma centers from all across the country.
To: NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
Ask the Mayor or fire department if they have contacted any local construction companies to bring in tractor and cranes to remove debrise. Also contacting rural farmers with tractors and backhoes and asking them for help might be a wise decision. The city could provide the fuel for the tractors.
2
posted on
09/11/2001 10:30:50 AM PDT
by
Chewbacca
Comment #3 Removed by Moderator
To: NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
Ask the Mayor or fire department if they have contacted any local construction companies to bring in tractor and cranes to remove debrise. Also contacting rural farmers with tractors and backhoes and asking them for help might be a wise decision. The city could provide the fuel for the tractors.
4
posted on
09/11/2001 10:31:26 AM PDT
by
Chewbacca
To: NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
BUMP totally horrifing report : ((
5
posted on
09/11/2001 10:31:32 AM PDT
by
alisasny
To: NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
Like stepping into a war zone... God help us all....
Thanks for the info
To: NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
I just got out of NYC - Was not easy they closed all roads out of Manhattan and all trains. After 2 hours waiting they finally allowed trains to go into Westchester. Saw everything from my building this morning. My legs are still shaking. OH MY GOD!! I actually saw the second plane hit the WTC and then I saw the buildings collapse. Total hell in my office everyone screaming and crying. I finally got home and they have sharpshooters on my hometown trainstation on the platform checking out every train coming from New York City. They are sending victims to the Westchester County Medical Center. I am still shaking don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. I know I am rambling but I am soooo nervous.
To: areafiftyone
Thank you for speaking up. Witnessing warfare is shocking. Please know that all of FReeperdom is praying for all who were in harm's way and others like you who managed to avoid being hurt. When you feel overwhelmed, take several deep breaths in a row. It is normal to feel shaken up, but slow deep breathing is the breath of life.
To: areafiftyone
I appreciate your report. We care about you. I would like to suggest you concentrate on relaxing. This is a terrible event, but I don't want you or anyone else to experience health problems from this. Take care of yourself.
To: areafiftyone
Thanks for the report.
I agree with Doughty - please try to relax and just take it as easy as you can. Take care of yourself :)
To: NotJustAnotherPrettyFace, Aloha Ronnie
Thank you for your report. Is there a link to find out exactly how many people worked in the Trade Center buildings? Does anyone have such a link?
To: areafiftyone, NotJustAnotherPrettyFace, all
Thank you people for being strong enought to write your reports. God bless you - and help America and the World to get through it.
Time will come and those who is behind the action will be punished - but today let's just put out lifes back together.
To: NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
If you're Josh's friend please contact me by FR email.
To: areafiftyone
You were not rambling. Thanks for the info and please take care of yourself.
To: Buchanan mama, all
http://www.fieldtrip.com/ny/24357379.htm
Photos and info about World Trade Center, before this attack...
"The famous World Trade Center in New York City, designed by Minoru Yamasaki, is a complex of seven office buildings and an enormous underground shopping concourse. Of course what makes the World Trade Center famous is the two towers, 1 WTC and 2 WTC. Each has something to offer.
WTC 1 features Windows on the World, an elegant restaurant with a magnificent view. WTC 2 features two observation decks -- indoors on the 107th floor and outdoors above the 110th floor, more than 1,300 feet above the city.
On a clear day, visitors can enjoy a panaoramic view reaching more than 55 miles. On the open promenade at the top it can be a bit windy at times. But with no roof, the whole world seems to open up. Sort of like flying while remaining on the ground. The promenade is open if the weather is right, not too windy. That's a view of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges on the left."
To: NotJustAnotherPrettyFace,DoughtyOne,Jefferson Adams
Thanks for the words! I am a little better now. This is so unreal!! I am going to give blood tomorrow. Can't get back into the city tonight to do it of course. All I can do is watch on TV. Makes you feel like you want to help so badly. This is terrible but you Freepers are the BEST!!
To: buchanan mama, all
This event will affect families around the country. From the website I listed in my post above, I read that school groups take tours of the WTC towers. Just so tragic!
This is also from the site.....
"The WTC in itself is larger than many cities, population and activity-wise. It includes a multitude of restaurants and various services, as well as a tremendous shopping mall and a world class hotel"
Larger than many cities...
To: areafiftyone
God bless you.
Take care of yourself.......others will need you to be strong....
To: areafiftyone
God bless you.
Take care of yourself.......others will need you to be strong....
To: areafiftyone
I know this must be a terrible thing to have witnessed, and you are only hours from it. But you MUST write (or record) everything that you saw and felt. Realize that this is American history, and you saw it unfold in all its terror.
Please, while it is fresh, get it down on paper or on tape. Try to recall every moment of what you saw. Everything you heard. What you saw other people doing. Keep it for historical purposes. Then if you feel like it, publish it.
God bless all of you who have been directly affected. Every one of us hs been affected indirectly, and it is forever burned now in the American consciousness.
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