nmah4779.xml

nmah4779.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-12

I was working on the 20th floor of 3 World Financial Center. Got to work at 8:30 am, as usual. Worked in the Southeast corner, the one nearest to 1 World Trade Center. When the first plane hit 1 WTC, our building shook as if in an earthquake. After the orange fire ball, debris started falling down onto West Street. Our building security office came on the intercom to tell us we were not involved, we were not evacuating. This was unreal. A large section of 1 World Trade peeled off and fell onto West St. We had seen the large numbers of firemen, they arrived in what seemed like seconds, and we knew the debris was falling on them. Then the second plane hit. Again our building shook and again the security office said we were not evacuating. I ran to my desk to put on my sneakers. I remember saying I was not waiting around for the 3rd plane. Then they finally announced we should leave and we could take the elevators! I got in the elevator, I was the only one in it all the way down. We were told to head North (uptown). I was afraid the buildings were going to explode. As I walked uptown, people, including mothers pushing baby carriages, were heading for the burning buildings. Then someone shouted, and people started running. I ran to Canal Street, hoping to get over the Brooklyn Bridge, but it had been shut down. I ended up spending 6 hours in Manhattan until the trains started running again. It turns out the bridge had reopened, but anyone you asked, like police, had no information. The next day, pictures appeared showing my office building. The corner where I had worked had been sheared away by girders falling on it. There were girders going into the windows on many floors like spears. The building security almost waited until it was too late, to evacuate us.

I get nervous going over bridges or through tunnels. I keep a pair of sneakers under my desk and a flashlight and face mask in my desk. I try to walk down the stairs as often as possible to build up my leg muscles. I did not fly for one year. Hearing planes overhead is unnerving. I do not like working on an island and plan to retire someplace in the country instead of the city.

Despite the many deaths, office buildings remain very unsafe and the death of thousands may go unrewarded in changing the building codes because of real estate greed. Much has been said about stairways and how the building codes figures out how many are needed to evacuate people. This formula belongs in the Stone Age. If a stairway is damaged or filled with smoke or fire, it is useless. Therefore the formula for devising the number of stairways is insane. It should also be against the law to use sheetrock to encase a stairway, it shatters. There is also only 1 water pipe to supply the sprinkler system. If that 1 pipe is damaged, you might as well not have any sprinklers. Many people were told to go back to their desks in the World Trade Center. I feel buildings should be evacuated on the side of safety instead of waiting for the last minute. You can always go back inside, but you cannot always get out.

The newspapers printed the flag so since I live in an apartment, I pasted the flags in all my windows. Most people do not know flag ediquette. THe super of my apartment house put a flag on the lobby wall, and put a lit Christmas sign in front of it, lying directly on the flag. I told him to put the sign on another wall and he got mad at me.