Re: 10 years ago today
Was taking a MCSE class in a building next to One Canada Square, the tallest Skyscraper in the UK. During a class break we saw the news on TV. The school decided to shut down for the day and send everyone home in case a similar attack took place on that skyscraper and it collapsed.
Re: 10 years ago today
^ yikes.....
I was on my way to work and heard the news on the radio......got there and went to the lounge where several were already gathered around the television on some news channel.
Nasty CEO (die-hard French-man) walked in, made light of the matter by saying, "How does this affect what we need to get done? Let's get back to work."
Re: 10 years ago today
I was in the computer lab at my university in south Jersey, writing a report that was due at 10 am when I saw pictures of the first plane hitting the tower on another student's PC - he was logged onto CNN. After that there was confusion about what happened and why it was happening. When the second plane hit, classes were cancelled and we were told to go home, again without any real understanding of what had happened just 2 hours north of where we were.
Stupidly my first thought was: is my paper still due at 10am?
I had to get back to my car so I could go home, but my car was in the far lot by the harbourfront - about a 15 minute walk and 5 minute shuttlebus ride. The shuttlebus kept getting re-routed and the 5 minute drive took about 35 minutes and didn't actually get to the parking lot, so I had to walk the rest of the way. Because the school was located half a block away from a federal courhouse, I saw the courthouse surrounded by over a dozen swat team members armed with automatic rifles, which honestly freaked me out.
I called my sister to tell her I was coming home (which was 15 minutes away) and the only thought in my mind was to ask about the person I knew who worked in the second tower and whether he was safe. We were the lucky ones to find out right away that he had evacuated the building as soon as the first plane hit, so we knew he had made it down - but no other news about him until 9pm that night because the phone lines were jammed. It took me 90 minutes to get home because everyone was fleeing from the large cities (I lived in a NJ suburb of Philadelphia).
Re: 10 years ago today
I still remember everything so vividly. I was sitting at my desk at work (I worked at One World Financial Center.. right across the street from The World Trade Center) and I heard a loud noise. It sounded like the noise a truck carrying pipes makes when it goes over a pothole. It’s a pretty typical noise for New York City, but I was on the 35th floor and you can’t hear anything that’s going on the streets at that height. The next thing I heard was someone screaming from across the hallway “There is a bomb in the building, everybody get the f*** out”. Most people evacuated my building then, but a few of us stayed back, not knowing what had happened. Then we heard rumors and it crossed our scrolling headlines tape on the computer that a plane had crashed into one of the towers. We all thought it must have been a Cessna with a student pilot who lost control.
A few of us gathered in my manager’s office because his window faced the towers. All we could see was the fire and debris and glass falling, no sign of a plane (I actually thought at that time that I would be able to see a part of a wing or cockpit or something, not realizing the force of the impact disintegrated everything). I kept going back to my office, fielding calls from family members, doing work, and back to my manager’s office… As I watched the blaze above, I could see the firemen entering the building (there was a firehouse right across the street which I passed everyday on the way to work), people exiting the building, and debris and glass falling… and then the first body fell.. We all let out a gasp as a man fell. And then it started. More and more began to fall and we were all in shock. I left back for my office and felt sick to my stomach. After a little while I was about to go back to my manager’s office and there was a loud bang and our building shook… the second plane had struck and there was no doubt this was an act of terrorism.
I gathered my bag, grabbed Pete, a colleague of mine who was on the phone, and told him we had to leave. We walked down the stairs, everyone scared and not knowing what was going to happen next. The streets were packed with so many people, everyone transfixed on both the buildings. I couldn’t stand to look at it much more because every few seconds a body would fall. There were a couple of a-hole frat boy traders on the street who actually as they were looking at people dying, saying. “A War is always good for the economy”. I couldn’t believe it.
Anyway Pete and I decided that it was too much of a hot spot to just stay there, so we decided to leave that area, not knowing if anything else may happen. We walked towards a residential buildings nearby and tried to use the phones there. No cell phones were working then in that area… we managed to make calls from the building lobby and then decided to walk away. I told him he could come over to my place (as he lived in Long Island). We knew that all subway service had been halted so we would have to walk it. We weren’t very far away from the towers because we were going to cross the West Side Highway. There was a clear path between where we stood and the towers were (maybe about one third of a mile)… and the first tower collapsed just as we were looking straight at it. For a moment I was frozen, not believing my eyes, really thinking this was some kind of nightmare... it could not be happening.. and then all I heard was people screaming behind me and running the opposite way.. As it collapsed, a huge plume of smoke started moving towards us. I ran as fast as I could but I knew it would catch me. It finally did. We put our shirts over our mouths for a filter and breathed through there.
We ended up near this restaurant, which had outdoor seating, and we crowded under the umbrellas to escape the smoke. People then took the chairs and broke the glass door of the restaurant and we all went in. Everyone was covered with smoke, coughing, and in disbelief. Pete and I decided to wait for a bit until things cleared up outside. When they did, we went out and saw a Ferry being boarded by many people. We looked at each other and though it was probably best to just get out of the city. When we reached the edge of the dock, they shut the gate and the ferry started to leave. Just then we heard another loud noise, not knowing what it was (the second tower had just collapsed), we jumped from the edge onto the moving ferry and climbed on board. As the ferry went across the river into Jersey, we saw that both of the towers had collapsed. It struck me then that all those fireman and policeman who had ran into the buildings had most likely perished along with countless others who were not able to make it out. News on the ferry began to circulate of other planes as well. We ended up in Jersey, managed to rent a car and drove to one of my friends’ house. Pete than drove back to Long Island and my cousins who live outside the city picked me up from my friend’s house.
I came back to my apartment the next day. I lived next to the 25th street Armory then, and it had been set up as a relief place for families of the victims. The whole area was plastered with photos of missing people, candle vigils every night, and grieving family members. It took a long time for me to get on with life then. I was thankful to God for escaping without any physical harm. So much in my life and the lives of so many changed since then. My heart, my prayers, my thoughts with all those who have been affected.
Re: 10 years ago today
I was in junior high and skipped school that day (usual for me). When I woke up around 11 or so my parents were discussing what had just happened. I thought they were watching a movie. 
Re: 10 years ago today
Half the freakin country in under water. "Today"
Re: 10 years ago today
Awwww, you made me all teary reading this…I know you went through hell and back and this was a turning point in your life. May Allah ease the hearts and sorrow of those affected by this tragedy.
Re: 10 years ago today
Half the freakin country in under water. "Today"
Monk - I know what you're saying, but do keep in mind that no one's grief is greater or lesser than another's.
Tragedy, no matter who is the victim of it is, deserves compassion. Yes, the floods are happening now and those people are deserving of our compassion and aid and concern, but we also cannot afford to forget the past and the lessons from it.
Re: 10 years ago today
I was in class at my first year at university. Class was ironically from 9am to 11am.
Class ended at 11pm, went to the cafeteria and saw what happened.
As soon as I saw what happened, I knew with 100% certainty that Bin Laden was behind it.
Re: 10 years ago today
I was at work, designing this brochure that had to go to press, when all of a sudden these nurses were running outside my office, so I got up and followed them to the patient waiting room whe we had a tv. Saw the news. Thought some bechara amateur pilot was flying too low. Went back to my desk, my SIL called and was crying....the 2nd towers been hit...omg...what's happening.... Soon there was commotion, then we all had to evacuate as we were supposedly a taller building in that area...
Re: 10 years ago today
was in my year 2 of GCSE..mom just got off the phone with my grandma and she switched on to CNN and saw the twin towers being hit...everybody was shell shocked and I still remember dad's comments : 'God knows what the repercussions for the Muslims might be now...esp our country'
And come to think of it, he was right ! :( Wish none of this had happened. I saw this status on fb two days back and couldn't agree more !
*'Whatever happened a decade ago was a complete horror story however US your 9/11 became Pakistan's 24/7 as an aftermath' *
Re: 10 years ago today
On the evening of September 10, 2001, they were showing Pearl Harbor on campus. A friend and I went to watch, and then walked out, cuz it was such a bad film focused entirely on bombing special effects. When I woke up the next morning and turned on the television I wasn't sure what I was watching, but my sleepy mind confused it with the movie for a while. I was really disoriented.
I didn't have class that day, and my intent was to focus on my senior thesis. But I was glued to the television or the phone most of the day. In a sort of haze, like so many of us were.
Memorable moments:
* The college called an all-college meeting, for all the students, faculty, staff of the college. We gathered, and polisci professors got up and tried to give us context. It was terrible timing. People with friends and family who were unaccounted for screamed at them. The Republican students freaked out at the liberal professors. People were very very upset. The approach to that meeting was a terrible idea. It was too intellectual, cold, academic. Too soon.
I was approached later by the chaplain on campus to help coordinate a more spiritual/interfaith gathering, to help the campus heal. I read from the Quran, tho I don't remember what I read. At the interfaith thing, the president of the college came up to me to ask if there had been any issues for the Muslim students on campus. There hadn't been.
9/11 was a friend's birthday, and we just sort of all went out to dinner anyway, not knowing what to do. It wasn't until somebody said not to ask the waiters to sing that it really hit us that the world was changing for us.
*My floormate who had graduated the year before had posted a photo of her view from the 90-something floor of the WTC on her "blog" (it's what would be called a blog now, tho then they were called "plans") just days before. She was never found.
*I cried while reading namaz during those days. Ammi told me I had to pray for my country to heal.
*I even cried in one of my tiny classes later that week. This is really weird for someone like me who does not show emotion in public.
Re: 10 years ago today
I had 8:30 am class in the morning at my University. I went to class for 10 mins and decided to skip the whole lecture as I was falling asleep. Head to the library and sat down to browse Gupshup for few minutes. This is around 8:45 am when I started noticing threads pop up by NY guppies who work in NY DT that they can see the smoke coming out of WTC building etc. They also saw the plane going in. At first I completely ignored it thinking it must be a small fire. I tried to access CNN and BBC and due to high traffic, the pages were not loading. I left the library and head to University Mall to purhcase my books and there I saw people glued to TV sceens and talking about the whole thing. Rest of the day was spent walking around University chatting up and following the story.