New York City following the 9/11 Collapse of World Trade Center Twin Towers
Photos by David Barth, 24 November 2001.
Text edited by Naoma Welk, 5 January 2009.
On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, my brother-in-law, Steve, who worked for Barnes & Noble College Bookstores,
headquartered at Union Square in downtown Manhattan, was in Virginia on business. Like most
Americans, he learned about the Twin Towers on television. When he spoke with his colleagues at the Union Square
offices, some reported seeing the both airplanes hit the towers.
My sister, Steve's wife Naoma, was working as a consultant at Ramapo College in Ramapo, New Jersey. She was driving
on Rt. 17 North when, just before 9:00 am, she heard on the radio a breaking news story about a "fire" in the North
Tower of the World Trade Center (WTC). She immediately thought about the restaurant at the top of the WTC and guessed that
it was a kitchen fire. By the time she reached her office, everyone knew that a plane had hit the North tower. The
office staff staff was glued to the TV, watching the events unfold. Stunned, they watched as the second plane hit
the South Tower at 9:03 am.
Naoma tried to phone her husband but all of the cell and land lines were tied up. It would be hours before she could
reach him. That evening she canceled dinner plans to stay home and watch the news. At home, one television was
connected to cable. The other televisions that depended on antennas showed only static because when the North tower
fell, the television transmission equipment went with it.
Since all flights had been grounded, Steve was marooned in Virginia. In fear of more terrorist activity, he was
reluctant to take any kind of public transportation to get home. Fortunately, he was able to rent a car, and he ended
up driving home. En route, he picked up a co-worker who was stranded in Washington.
When Steve got back to his office, he checked his voice mail and one message was from a vendor who worked on an upper
floor of the North Tower. The message had been recorded on 9/11 at 8:45AM. Steve was initially relieved to hear the message,
feeling that his friend must have survived. Unfortunately, the message came minutes before the attack, and his friend
was one of the casualties.
Seventy-four days later, on November 24, the Saturday following Thanksgiving 2001, my brother, Deke, his partner, Carol
L., my partner, Carol M., and I were visiting Steve and Naoma at their home. Deke and Carol L. were visiting from Ohio,
and Carol M. and I had flown in from Colorado.
The huge operation to clean up lower Manhattan was underway, and we were eager to go there to see what we
could.
However, Steve and Naoma were very reluctant to visit the site. It was too close to home for them. For Naoma and Steve,
the WTC had been part of their lives for years. In addition, for weeks after the attacks, Steve walked past
hundreds of "Missing" posters that had been plastered on every flat surface in Lower Manhattan. Armed National
Guardsmen guarded transportation hubs including New York City's Penn Station, Steve's commuting destination.
Ultimately, Steve agreed to drive us there although he stayed in the car while the rest of us walked as close as we
could to view the disaster site and take pictures. For many area residents, the attacks on the WTC were personal,
rather than an attraction, and Steve and Naoma were among many who didn't want to see the site. I took these
photographs on that trip into lower Manhattan.
It was a moving experience for all of us, and we owe Steve a tremendous gratitude for taking us to the site of the
crushed World Trade Center towers. This page is dedicated to him.
Debris from the WTC Towers is piled up at the end of the street. The building on the left was damaged when the towers
fell.
Tourists crowd as closely as possible to the site of the terrorist attack. Barricades hold back the crowds from the
clean-up operation. In the background is the well-known surviving infrastructure of one of the towers.
This is another photo of curious pedestrians. The gentleman facing the camera is wearing a FDNY T-shirt, in support
of the Fire Department of New York City (New York's Bravest). Members of the New York Police Department (New York's
Finest) and the New York Fire Department gained new respect for their heroic actions on 9/11.
Against the back drop of grey skies, pedestrians look at cranes and the famous skeletal structure that survived the
tower's collapse.
The building on the left suffered collateral damage from the 9/11 terrorist attack. Damaged buildings, like this one, were
eventually demolished.
A close-up view of the mountain of debris and a skeleton of one of the towers in the background.
New York City set aside a designated lane for debris disposal trucks.
This is a special route for disposal trucks leading from the WTC site to Pier 25, where trucks unloaded debris onto barges
for transport to a designated site. A few months later, the sea bed at of Battery Park was dredged to
enable barges to be loaded near the site. Note that the streets near the WTC site are watered down to reduce
dust.
An empty dump truck follows the sign leading to Ground Zero to collect a load of debris. Throughout the cleanup,
residents and workers were advised to wear surgical masks to protect their lungs.
An empty truck heads south on a designated late on the West Side Highway into ground zero to get a load of
debris.
A fully loaded truck emerges from Ground Zero. Its destination is Pier 25 further north on the West Side
Highway, where debris were loaded onto a barge.
Workers hose down a truck as it leaves the WTC site. Controlling and containing dust and contaminates was a cleanup
priority. The loaded truck is heading north on the West Side Highway to Pier 25 where it will deposit its load onto
a barge for relocation to a central location.
This red truck, owned by a private contractor, Mazzocchi Demolition, is heading south on the West Side
Highway towards Ground Zero to collect debris.