9/11

In 2011, it is ten years since the World Trade Center in New York City, known as the Twin Towers collapsed due to a terroristic attack. This caused the death of 2 755 people, in the worst terroristic action in the history of the United States. In this entry, I am going to describe this terrible event, and try to reflect upon the consequences of these actions.

To understand the seriousness of this event, we have to start with the centers. The two towers in New York housed up to 50 000 people, in 110 stories. The towers were 415 and 417 meters high, being the highest up till 1974, when the Sears Tower was raised. The towers were designed by Minoru Yamasaki and Emery Roth & Sons Consulting. These towers were a part of a complex of seven buildings, known as the World Trade Center.
1993, the World trade center in New York was attacked by terrorists. This occurred on February 26, when a truck bomb was detonated below the north tower. It killed 6 people and injured 1 045 people. The original plan was that the north tower would fall on the south tower, causing both of them to collapse. This plan failed, but in 2001, the terrorists succeeded in making the twin towers collapse.

On September eleventh, 2001, the citizens of New York heard a plane engine over their homes. This sound caused many heads to turn upwards towards the sound, because in New York City, plane engines are not a common sound. That is because most of the planes fly higher or further away from the city for the sound to be that dominant. One of the people to turn their heads up was Gideon Naudet. He was with a squad of firemen from New York City firefighters, making a documentary on how it was to be a rookie in this job. The firemen had gone out to investigate an incident of smoke in the central city, not far from the twin towers. As Gideon turned his head, and his camera, upwards, he had no idea that the scene he was about to film would shake the very foundations of the American nation. The plane that caused the inhabitants to raise their heads towards the sky was flying in a straight line towards the northern tower of the World Trade Center, a complex of seven buildings in the Lower Manhattan. These towers were 415 and 417 meters high, housing 110 stores of offices, with the maximum number of 50 000 employees.

The plane hit the north tower at 08:45 in the morning, between level 93 and 99, in the center of the building. This caused all the stairs to collapse, trapping 1 344 people in the tower. The whole city of New York was in shock. Could this really be true? Gideon kept his camera running through the whole incident, with no idea that he was about to make a documentation of the worst terroristic action in our time. As the firemen jumped to their cars and drove down to the trade center, another plane approached. This plane hit the south tower at 09:02 am, around the 77th and 85th floor of the building, causing 700 people to die. However, this plane did not hit at the center of the building, so one stairwell was left intact. Anyhow, only a few people managed to successfully get safely down before the tower collapsed. At 9:59 am, only 57 minutes after the plane hit, the southern tower collapsed, due to the fires which caused the steel structures to fail. At 10:28 am, only one hour and 43 minutes after the hit of the first plane, the northern tower collapsed.

These two buildings crashing down caused thousands of people to die, both in the towers and at the ground level. But it was not only these two towers that were affected by the planes. The collapsing towers damaged a lot of the surrounding buildings in the area, causing many fires, and some of the buildings also collapsed as a consequence of both the towers and the fires. In total, 2 755 people were killed by the incident caused by the hijacked planes.
Cantor Fitzgerald LP, an investment bank, lost 658 employees, and was the company that lost most of its workers. 343 of the New York City firefighters were killed in the attempt to rescue the people in the Trade centers. 60 policemen were killed. Of all the people who were still in the towers when they collapsed, only 20 were pulled out alive. The process of cleanup and recovery continued 24 hours a day, for eight months.

But this particular event wasn't only a great catastrophe. It was also a sign of war. This was the first time since Pearl Harbor that America had suffered losses and the strike of war on their own soil. Most of the First World War happened in Europe, in trenches. The Second World War raged mostly in Asia and Europe. The Americans did contribute solders to these wars, but the wars never affected their homeland. Naturally, the American people started looking for the ones responsible for the attack. Al Qaida, Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein were pointed to as possible wire pullers. But the first measures put to life, were a higher level of security at the airports and the campaign to stop terrorism. The whole western civilization was in shock and filled with fear after this incident with the twin towers. At every airport around the world, strict restrictions to liquids and sharp objects were introduced. These rules we know today too. It is much more strict rules for the flights nowadays. But that is a price I think we should be glad to pay, considering the reason they are there. The attack on the Trade Centers shook the foundations of the western civilization, and we should not forget the people dying in this attack, and the importance of understanding and equality between humans.

The information for this entry is found at:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center#Destruction

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_World_Trade_Center_bombing
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center
www.skyscraper.org/TALLEST_TOWERS/t_wtc.htm

The pictures have been found at:

www.softwareartist.org/andrews-New_York.htm
no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil:September_17_2001_Ground_Zero_01.jpg
b4teanews.blogspot.com/2009/09/world-trade-center-8th-anniversary.html