Remembering Sept. 11-24, 2001
Before the attack
Below, a promotional poster for the Observation Deck at the World Trade Center. The poster depicts the Twin Towers created from a collage of words of all the various different sights you can see from the Observation Deck. The Observation Deck was 107 stories up on top of Tower Two. The elevator ride went a quarter mile in 58 seconds. The Towers had 22 restaurants and 60 retail establishments.
At 1,377 feet, the South Tower Observation Deck’s outdoor viewing platform was the highest in the world at the time. On a clear day, one could see 45 miles in each direction. On average, the observation deck attracted 1.8 million visitors per year, or about 4,900 a day.
Security screening
Shortly after 7:35 a.m., hijackers Salem al-Hazmi, left, and Nawaf al-Hazmi, center, clear security at Washington Dulles International Airport. They are among the five who will hijack American Airlines Flight 77.
Portland International Jetport and Washington Dulles International Airport had security cameras installed at checkpoints. Boston Logan International Airport and Newark International Airport do not have surveillance equipment in operation.
The 19 hijackers are affiliated with the militant Islamist group al-Qaeda: 15 Saudi Arabians, two United Arab Emirians, and one each Lebanese and Egyptian.
Result of attacks
• 2,996 fatalities, more than 25,000 injuries
• At least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage.
• The deadliest terrorist attack in human history and the single deadliest incident for firefighters (340) and law enforcement officers (72) in the history of the U.S.
Sept. 12
Searching for survivors
Thousands of construction workers, first responders and self-dispatched volunteers converge at Ground Zero to search for survivors, improvising bucket brigades to remove debris from the mountainous pile formed by the collapse of the World Trade Center.
At 12:30 p.m., rescuers free Genelle Guzman from the wreckage. An employee for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who evacuated from the 64th floor of the North Tower. Guzman is the last of 18 people trapped in the rubble to be found alive.
Agencies act
Members of the New York City Fire Department search for survivors while fighting the fires that burn beneath the rubble of the collapsed World Trade Center.
Clearing the perimeter
The New York City Department of Transportation and the New York City Department of Sanitation work to clear the streets around the perimeter of the World Trade Center site. Personnel remove crushed cars, debris and other large obstacles to allow passage of emergency crews and construction equipment heading to the site.
Fresh Kills Landfill reopens
The Fresh Kills facility on Staten Island, a former landfill slated to become parkland, reopens shortly before daybreak to provide an area for investigators to analyze and further search the wreckage of the World Trade Center.
Fighting fires at the Pentagon
Fires continue to burn along the Pentagon’s roof. As the Arlington County Fire Department and firefighters from other regional departments battle the blaze. President George W. Bush visits the Pentagon to thank first responders and others who have arrived to assist.
Sept. 13
The photo below shows the Ground Zero Cross, as seen from West Street. The steel fragment is relocated from its original location to the edge of the site near West Street on Oct. 3, 2001. The Ground Zero Cross is on display at the 9/11 Memorial Museum.
Photo from the collection 9/11 Memorial Museum, Gift of the photographer, John Weston, in memory of his parents.
Sept. 14
President Bush visits Ground Zero to thank workers and volunteers. During his visit, he gives an impromptu speech. When a worker calls out “I can’t hear you,” President Bush responds, “I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!”
Boundaries of the Frozen Zone shift
Lower Manhattan becomes more accessible when a restricted district known as the “Frozen Zone” shifts from the entire area below 14th Street to the area south of Canal Street. Originally established on the evening of Sept. 11 by New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, this bounded area is off-limits to non-rescue personnel and nonresidents.
Approximately 37,000 households are located south of Canal Street. Residents have to show proof of residence to enter.
Sept. 16
Volunteers begin serving hot meals outside St. Paul’s Chapel, which has been functioning as a respite center for recovery workers at the World Trade Center site since the day of the attacks. The American Red Cross and Salvation Army have been operating mobile relief stations since Sept. 11, and opened indoor respite and relief centers shortly after the attacks.
Sept. 17
The New York Stock Exchange reopens after its longest closure since the Great Depression of 1933. In honor of those killed in the attacks, the NYSE observes two minutes of silence before trading begins.
Permanent memorial
The 9/11 Memorial opened on Sept. 11, 2011. It is located on the western side of the former World Trade Center complex where the Twin Towers once stood. The memorial was designed by two architects, Michael Arad and Peter Walker, whose proposal was selected in a design competition out of 5,201 submissions from 63 countries.
The Memorial Plaza surrounds two enormous reflecting pools set within the footprints of the North and South Towers.
The pools feature 30-foot waterfalls — the largest humanmade waterfalls in North America. The water cascades into reflecting pools, finally disappearing into the center voids. The names of people who were killed in the attacks in New York, at the Pentagon and on Flight 93, as well as in the 1993 bombing at the WTC, are etched in bronze around the edges of the pools.
To learn more go to 911memorial.org.
The Sept. 11 Memorial Museum’s permanent collection is a repository consisting of material evidence, first-person testimony and historical records of response to Feb. 26, 1993, and Sept. 11, 2001, and the ongoing repercussions of these terrorist events. The museum has acquired more than 70,000 artifacts that document the fate of victims, survivors and responders.
The truck of Ladder Company 3 is currently located in the Sept. 11 museum.
A handmade quilt consisting of nine rows and 11 columns of red, white and blue fabric with 3,024 victim names embroidered in white in alphabetical order by first name. The quilt is titled Muslim Public Affairs Council 9/11 Quilt.
Terror today
The Institute for Economics & Peace 2022 Global Terrorism Index found that slightly more countries improved then deteriorated. In 2021, 25 countries recorded reductions in terrorism deaths, while 21 countries recorded increases and 117 countries recorded no change in the number of deaths. One hundred and five countries did not record any terrorism incidents.
The GTI assesses four measures, the number of attacks, deaths, wounded and hostages, using a 5-year weighting system to determine the level of impact for any given year. The weighting system allows for the impact of the lingering effect of terrorism on a country’s psyche.
Although the number of deaths from terrorism has remained fairly constant for the last four years it is still a major global threat. The number of terrorism incidents remains substantially higher than a decade ago, while there has been a slight increase in the number of countries experiencing terrorism, from 43 in 2020 to 44 in 2021.
Sources: The Associated Press, The Institute for Economics & Peace, FBI, 911memorial.org
Photos from the 911 Memorial and Museum