By Dudley McFarquhar, Contributor
As I passed through multiple checkpoints with hard hat and gas mask on, my first impression of Ground Zero from the inside was overwhelming. - Contributed
THE DAY
SEPTEMBER 11 was one of the most devastating days of my life. The day started like any other. Little did I know that hatred and destruction had fallen upon the nation.
As I was getting ready for work that morning, my wife shouted my name frantically, "Turn the television on; I just heard a radio announcement that an airplane has just hit one of the twin towers in New York." Not long after, the other tower was hit. To my amazement and disbelief, the World Trade Twin Towers, a significant engineering achievement prominent in the New York skyline, were on fire from possible terrorist acts on US soil. This was not a movie.
Jamaican born and a registered structural engineer, I sat in horror as I saw the intensity of the fireball at the top section of the building and when the towers collapsed, I became numb and speechless. The words, "Lord Jesus!" were uttered. To think that the massive building elements involved could be reduced to rubble was sickening. Knowing the time of day and with the television feed coming live, I knew lives were instantly lost. Children became immediate orphans, spouses became widows and widowers, companies were destroyed, chaos and disbelief abounded. If that wasn't bad enough, there was another announcement that a second plane had intentionally hit the second tower. And still more trouble, a third plane was intentionally crashed into the Pentagon. It was then confirmed that this was an attack by terrorists.
My heart was heavy for all the lost lives. With the diverse ethnic population in New York, it was hard not to consider the tragedy of Americans, Caribbean nationals and all the other countries affected. This catastrophe had immediate global effect. The question, "why" kept reverberating in my thoughts. Was there really this much hate in our world and callous disregard for life? Affirmative.
Living and working in Dallas, Texas, the remainder of the day was sombre. There was little traffic on the multi-lane highways, people left work to be with family; city and downtown areas were deserted with Federal buildings put on immediate highest security. The raw emotional agony was clearly visible by the limp body language of people and the pain on everyone's face. There was utter disbelief. Late into the night, the vigil to get every piece of news continued. America had been attacked on it's soil. The repercussions were inconceivable. Little did I know that I would soon get an opportunity to be working at what was to become "Ground Zero" during the height of the rescue and search activities. As a part of the Thornton-Tomassetti engineering team, I was fortunate to work on structural evaluation of building cladding in the World Financial Center Complex. This complex is at "Ground Zero".
THE DAYS AFTER
When I first got word that I would be participating in the recovery effort, I was very anxious. The flight from Dallas to New York City was nerve-racking. Thinking about the shear magnitude on what had occurred was overwhelming. How does one bottle emotions and focus on work in that tragic environment? I would soon find out. Coming out of the subway on Chambers Street, I was immediately hit with a pungent smell that permeated the entire vicinity. I was blocks away from the site and yes, it was very real and intense. The number of law enforcement officers and the multiple security checks were real. At that time, the site was barricaded and people outside were desperately trying to get a peek but they were not close enough. Everywhere in the city, the exterior of establishments were laden with pictures of missing or dead people. There were post cards from well wishes, flowers, stuffed animals - all memorial shrines to those victims of the tragedy. Almost all of the fire stations had lost men and vigils were being kept outside.
As I passed through multiple checkpoints with hard hat and gas mask on, my first impression of Ground Zero from the inside was overwhelming. There were was huge areas that certainly looked like a war zone, typically depicted in movies. Again, this was not a movie, people had been killed, some were still missing, some already found alive. The site was so large that it required the operations to be divided into quadrants. I found myself so sad that it became numbing. It seemed like there were thousands of workers in every direction, a tremendous variety of activities, continuous dust and strong odours, security everywhere, steady convoys haulage trucks in and out of the site, loud noises from large heavy machines, multiple high rise buildings in the area totally destroyed, structural framing and rubble in huge piles, massive steel members twisted like pretzels. I am talking about steel plates that are two to four inches thick!
As a structural engineer, it was hard to fathom the magnitude of forces that caused such devastation. As I went about my work, on the 20th floor of a damaged building, I looked down to see a panoramic, close-up view of the site All I could say was "Lord, have mercy". I reflected to myself, I am working in a big graveyard with no tombstones - just thoughts knowing that people died horrible deaths in a short time period. It was a humongous amount of wreckage. On the inside of damaged buildings that were not destroyed, many of the offices were left as they were the day of the incident - paper work at desks, work stations, cups, pictures strewn all over the place, missing sections of walls. It was certainly a snapshot of when time stood still. Workdays were typically 12 hours at the site, but the day seemed much longer.
ON THE WAY.
Reality and depression hit hard. I was absolutely drained. While I personally had not lost any family or friends at Ground Zero, I certainly empathised with the strong emotions at the site especially from the firemen. They had been called to do their jobs, several lives were saved - several lost. The workers there were from every walk of life - focused on a common theme - "Let's get the job done." I was at the site for a week. As I left each day, I would reflect on family and the importance of spending quality time. We tend to become complacent thinking that these types of events could never happen. That has changed. When I left New York, I knew I was closing one of the most important chapters in my life and also that I would be grieving and healing for a while. No one who has been at Ground Zero, either during the event or after, returns unaffected emotionally. I will never forget the gamut of emotions that I went through for people I didn't know but who became like family members. It was incredible.
As we observe the first anniversary of that tragic day, pick up the pieces and try to move on with our lives, we need to be cognisant of the importance of family.
Dudley McFarquhar is the National Director for Curtain Wall Sector LZA Technology, a division of Thornton-Tomasetti Group. He is graduate of York Castle High School and Brown's Town Community College. He holds a Doctorate in .......
