The City rapidly went into a high alert status with bridges and tunnels closed and subways and train service Suspended. Instead of the horrific shock and massive dislocation the attack cause, the call was for the maintenance of order, to stay calm and cope with the transportation problems. Move on…..New York is still functioning; it is shaken but NOT destroyed. The broad artery of Fourteenth Street became a manned boundary. To the north there was normality as much as possible, to the south, the avenues and the streets were open for pedestrians only. Further south another major east- west artery was marked a tightly controlled co – access zone and below it were emergency crews and supplies were assembling.
By 6: oo pm the patient inflow to the hospitals had diminished to a trickle because no more survivors could be found. The whole World Trade Center area was one vast mound of smoking rubble and of hundreds of feet high, spilling over into adjacent streets. The news coverage was of course constant terrible figures flowing out. 78 police officers unaccounted for, 200 firemen unaccounted for, and they all served their lives for humanity and for their nation men. Some 50,000 people work at the World Trade Center and some 20,000 more are in the area o business visits daily. And those who were murdered cannot be counted as their number was in thousands.
By mid – evening limited subway service was operating and outbound bridge and tunnel crossing were restored in an effort to clear Manhattan of non – residents and non – essential outsiders. New Yorkers began to realize that effective management was in place and emergency operations were going according t plan. The street crowed thinned around 8:30 pm and thus the day ended. And there was no WORLD TRADE CENTER.
The Twin Towers became an instant icon after their construction. They got sight from every field of life. The people of all races were attracted towards the World Trade Centre because of its expanses and beauty. Almost all the architectural critics condemned or dismissed them. The two towers were so big, so brash and so high, shattering the urban scale, overburdening the area. But New Yorkers accepted the twin towers large heartedly and like them as they felt their own enthusiasm in the huge towers. And after three historic events the twin towers became the center spot for all. The twin towers themselves entered into the plethora of “firsts”. They entered into the record book.
The first event occurred on April 7, 1974 when New Yorkers heard about a news that a boy named Phillipe Petit, a 24 years old French citizen, had successfully secured a tight rope between the towers. New Yorkers were amazed to hear that he successfully attempted this and made many successful carefree crossings. The police and public had felt anxiety but Phillipe did not.
The second event occurred a few months later on July 22, 1975 when a young man of age 24 named Owen Quinn made parachute jump from the North tower. Though the jump was full of dangers but he made this dramatic attempt. And after his attempt he was fined to discourage any other attempt like this.
The third event occurred on May 27, 1977 when George Willig, 27 years old made an attempt of crossing the world trade centre by using clamps on the facades. After three hours of continuous effort he made it and entered this attempt in the record book.
These were the three events after which The Twin Towers gained fame.
After the Yamasaki’s design of the Twin Towers was decided in 1964, the Post Authority began acquiring property for the World Trade Center in March 1965. After acquiring the desired place the demolition work began on March 1966 to clear thirteen square blocks of low rise buildings for the construction of the Twin Towers. And at last the groundbreaking for the construction of the World Trade Center started on August 1966.
The site was 65 feet below the normal level and there was a need to build a bathtub with a slurry wall to keep water from the Hudson River out. The Post Authority’s Engineers advised to fill the space with slurry mixture composed of betonies and water which plugged the holes and kept groundwater out. It took about fourteen months for the slurry wall to be completed and it was necessary before the construction work began.
The Port Authority awarded $74 million to various steel suppliers in January 1967. The construction work of the North tower began in August 1968 and the construction work of the south tower began on January 1969. Thousands of workers were hired to work for the fast completion of the project.
The opening ceremony of the North Tower was held on December 1970, 12 years after the construction began while the opening ceremony of the South Tower occurred on July 1971. The North Tower was opened for the tenants in December 1970 while the South Tower accepted tenants in January 1972. The total cost that Port Authority had to pay for World Trade Center was estimated to be $900 million. And after the completion of construction of the Twin Towers the Ribbon cutting ceremony was held on April 4, 1973.
The issue of elevators was a major limiting factor in building height. The taller the building, the more elevator needed to service the building and that means consuming more space for the elevators. Yamasaki and the engineers decided to introduce a new system of sky lobby, floors where people could switch from large – capacity express elevator which serves the sky lobbies, to a local elevator that goes to floors in sections.
The sky lobbies were located on the 44th and 78th floor of each tower that increased the amount of usable space on each floor about 75 percent. Altogether, the twin towers had 95 express and local elevators. This system was inspired by the subway system of New York.
Yamasaki’s design for the Twin Towers was announced to public on 1964. The buildings were designed with narrow office windows 18 inches wide each that showed that he tried to make the occupant feel safe in building. Yamasaki’s design also included Aluminum – Alloy facades.
In addition to the Twin Towers the design included four other low – rise buildings which were built in 1970. The design of the Twin Towers was not easy to decide but by the hard work of Yamasaki this dream came true and this huge building occupied a place of 16 acres on the whole.
On September 11, 2001, two 767 jetliners were hijacked from the Los Angeles airlines and both the planes were hijackd for the same purpose. After the hijack the terrorsits that were associated with the Al – Qaida that was reviled in the video tapes received later took the planes towards the World Trade Center. The first plane crashed in the North Tower and there was fire in 9 floors and everything was burning in fire. There was smoke rising from the North Tower and this crashing of the plane became a cause of the fire. After that the same happened with the South Tower and the Second Plane crashed into the South Tower and lit the fire and there was also a burning hell in both the towers. The fire was the cause of the blasts inside the building and complete destruction of both the towers.
According to an estimate the speed of both the planes was somewhat 710 km per hour that was enough to disturb the core of the Tower. The light structure and the hollow nature of the structures allowed the fuel of the jet to settle into structure. All the floors get wet with the 10,000 gallons jet fuel in each plane. And when this fuel caught fire there was a huge blast in resut of which the North Tower fell and was turn into a mound of sand. After sometime the same happened in the South Tower and it also came to ground.
All this happened in about an hour and this happened because of the light structure, the electricity wiring and finally the fuel which basically weaken the columns and caused the floors to sag and therefore reducing their abiity to support the mass f the Building.
After 9/11 there was thousands tons of debris of the towers was left behind that caused a lot of health problems in New York. As you know the North Tower collapsed first and after it the South Tower. Therefore, there were remains of both the towers and other nearby buildings. The thousands tons of toxic debris consisted of more than 25, 00 contaminants including many carcinogens. This not only caused many serious health problems in the victims but also the rescue and recovery workers. There was smoke all over with so many contaminants and the workers worked on the site many hours continuously helping the affected.
For example Frank Macri, a NYPD Officer died of lung cancer in 2007 but his family claimed that his death was because of his long stay at the site and therefore they claimed for line – of – duty benefits. Health problems were also reported in some students, the nearby residents and the workers of the site and many other people that were present nearby somewhere the World Trade Center at the time of incident.
There are a lot of deaths that are linked to the toxics of the debris and that are why the United States authorities cleared the debris as soon as possible. And all the victims of these toxics were added in the people died in the World Trade Center attack.
According to an estimate 30 % to 40 % of the workers were reported to be affected and ill due to the work they performed at the site. And even now an environmental health center is analyzing the children whose mothers were pregnant during the period of attack and were pregnant few days after the incident to save the youth from any unwanted disease.
When people awake on September 11, no one thought that what was happening in New York. Everybody was busy in his work and then came the flash that the Twin Towers were hit. Every person related to news or business was familiar to this name so he was stunned to hear this. Everyone turned on the TV and got the News that the North Tower was hit by a hijacked plane and people thought that it was enough but then another flash came that the South Tower was also hit by another hijacked plane. Now this was the time the whole world forgot to take breath. And there was the last Flash that World Trade Center was no more.
It was not only a disaster to the New York or the United States but the whole world not just economically but also humanly because people from the whole world were there. The phone calls became busy as everyone started trying to connect to his loved one and ask for his wellness. Every eye was full of tears. Phone Calls from the Presidents of all the countries were coming to Solace the United States, everyone was against this brutal act. Everyone was telling America that she is not alone in this war against terrorist and the whole world was with them. On one side the day brought disaster, cruelty but on the other hand that day told terrorists that the world is one country. Everyone forgot about his country and was feeling the pain of United States. That day told everyone that still humanity is present. Still Humans are not Cold Blooded they feel for each other and whenever such an act will repeat, the whole world will be together again.
In the underground garage of the North Tower of the World Trade center a person named Ramzi Yousaf planted a Ryder Truck which has 1500 pounds explosive, on February 26, 1993. The blast opened a 100 ft hole through five sub levels with the greatest damaging occurring on B1 and B2 and on B3 there was a significant structural damage. Six people were killed and 50,000 other workers and visitors were left gasping for air. Many people inside the North Tower were forced walk down darkened stairs that contained no emergency lights, which took about 2 hours to reach safety.
The guilty fled to Pakistan after the bombing but was arrested in Islamabad and was extradited back to the United States. After remand he told the police that there were two more terrorists who were also arrested and it was found out that the plan was to destabilize the North Towers and send it crashing into the South Tower and thus destroying both the Towers.
After the bombing the floor required to be re – structured to restore the structural support they provided to columns. The Slurry wall was in peril and loss of the floor slabs that provided lateral support against pressure from Hudson River water on the other side. The refrigeration plant on the sublevel B5 was heavily damaged. It was the plant which was used for air conditioning the whole World Trade Center.
After the bombing the Port Authority planted fire alarm system for the entire complex and photo luminescent markings in the stairwells. As a memorial to the victims of this bombing a pool was installed with the names of those who were killed but the pool was also destroyed in September 11 attacks. And a common memorial was planned to be built at the site of World Trade Center.
After the attack on 9 / 11 many memorial and Vigils were held all over the world. Pictures of the people died in the incident where place on Ground Zero and thousand of candles were burnt in their memory, vigils were held, people from every religion took part in this or I may say the whole nation was united.
According to a survey a few people said that the whole New York is full with the people died on 9 / 11, there is a sense of funeral everywhere and the whole city looks to be sad but it is also good in one way that it gives a sign that everyone is present here to help each other. This has weekend everyone’s heart and now people feel even little pains of others.
The very first Memorial was the “Tribute in Light” in which 88 search lights were planted on ground Zero and were projected upwards in the shape of two vertical columns in the memory of the Twin Towers. In New York, also a competition in the memory of the World Trade Center was held in which foot prints of both the towers were made by thousands of people.
The plan to make a museum at the site of the Twin Towers was abandoned because of the reaction of the families of the victims. Then there was Pentagon Memorial which was completed at the seventh anniversary of the attacks. It consists of about 184 benches facing the Pentagon and a private Chapel is also constructed there.
And at the site of the World Trade Center there is present a Memorial, or you can say a combined Memorial in the memory of the bombing in February 1993 and the September 2001 attacks.
The terrorists hijacked the American Airlines Flight 11 and crashed it into the North Tower first between the 93rd and 99th floor. And seventeen minutes after the first crash the second flight 175 into the south tower between the 77th and 85th floor. The impact of 1st flight destroyed the floors and about 1,344 people were impacted. The second flight destroyed but its damage was not as much as the damage of the first. A few people successfully escaped from the impact of the second plane and about 700 were killed instantly. At 9:59 the south tower collapsed due to fir which may be caused steel structure to weaken. An after half an hour the north Tower collapsed after burning for about 102 minutes.
At noon another building the 7 WTC collapsed due to the fire that was not controlled and Marriott hotel had been already destroyed during the collapse of the two towers. The three remaining buildings in the World Trade center plaza bore heavy damaged and turned into debris and were ultimately demolished.
Media reports suggested that thousands might have been killed in the attack as according to an estimate every day about 50,000 visitors used to visit it. Ultimately, 2,752 death certificates relating to 9/11 were filled. No doubt, the twin towers were the biggest loss. They were completed at a cost of $900 million and millions of money was invested in it and everything turned into a mound of sand after this attack. New York had bore such a great incident. The sky high Twin Towers which were the glory of the New York along with the Statue of Liberty was no more. On September 12 New York was missing something and it will never come back.