World News

More Turmoil Within New York

Written by Joshua Smith - 12th September, 2001

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As reality begins to set in, and the citizens of the world come to realize that the horrors of the past 36 hours were not a nightmare from which they could escape, the tricky clean-up effort is continuing amidst a dangerous environment.

New York City is a quieter place today, following the dramatic and tragic collapse of the 110-storey twin towers of the World Trade Center, as well as the unoccupied Building 7 that fell hours later. This morning (Australian time), the building on One Liberty Plaza - which was the new home of the Nasdaq Stock Exchange - partially collapsed, and fears remain that the bulk of the 57-storey structure could follow.

In addition, another towering structure known as the Millennium Building has reportedly been seen to buckle under the pressure of the transforming landscape and the fall of heavy rubble yesterday. This has raised concerns that the building may collapse, or degenerate so far as to require demolition, which would slow the clean-up and rebuilding effort further.

Thess developments have obviously hindered the continuing rescue efforts, and put a halt on the use of heavy machinery within the area. Nevertheless, a few positive lights shone from the darkness of the disaster in the recovery of some 11 survivors from the remnants of the Trade Center towers. Rescued survivors include 6 New York City firefighters, 3 police officers and 2 civilians.

Unfortunately, rescue workers have reflected that traditionally as many as 90% of the survivors of a disaster such as this are discovered within the first 24 hours, or not at all. Our hearts and prayers are with the friends and families of those who are as yet unaccounted for.

Breaking Update: Minutes ago, calls were issued to evacuate the Empire State Building and Penn Station - two popular landmarks within the city. The reason for this evacuation is unknown at this stage.