Here's a report
from the front I sent to friends and family on September 15 from Cary ’s apartment:
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I was able to
enter "ground zero" again today and this time I made it to my
apartment for a few things. I picked up
my laptop and mobile phone charger, so now I'm connected again. Yay!
Don't know when I'll be able to move home, though.
I have been down
there three times this week and have talked to National Guardsmen and NYPD
officers. There are 4500 National Guards
activated and stationed in Manhattan
now. A battleship has entered New York Harbor Hudson somewhere. F16's are flying higher today, since
commercial air traffic has resumed somewhat.
The past few days, the only air traffic has been low-flying F16s and
military helicopters.
Today there were
four funerals for the Fire Department officials that were killed in the
collapses. One of them was Father Mychal
Judge, a Franciscan Monk who was the Fire Department Chaplain. He had recently spoken at my friend’s
confirmation. 350 firefighters have
been killed. 70 NYPD police officers and
60 Port Authority Police officers. At
least. Today Giuliani declared these
people "casualties of war" after Bush said we are at war. I guess that means their families will at
least be able to receive federal benefits.
The rescue
operation is slowly turning into a recovery operation and soon will be handed
over entirely to the heavy equipment guys for straight-out clean up. They are moving slowly, there are still
fires burning in some of the buildings and rescue workers are falling, breaking
arms and having respiratory problems.
Slowly, because they're still looking for survivors. They moved in
several cranes today that are capable of lifting 300 tons at once. They move these around by barge, pretty
impressive to see.
Giuliani is
reluctant to stop talking about hope for finding survivors. Basically, the only
survivors were people who were not in the buildings when they collapsed. No survivors have been pulled from the
wreckage since the first day when 9 survivors were found -- six fire fighters and
three police officers who were in the first wave of rescuers, before the
buildings collapsed.
It’s emotionally
exhausting to hear about all the families looking for missing people. There are home made posters plastered all
over the City, "Have You Seen..."
I don't want to be the one who tells them that their loved ones have
been incinerated and I guess no one else wants to tell them either. If we could just find one more person alive,
it would make such a difference to this City.
I don't want to give up hope, but I have seen the wreckage and I just
don't know that it's possible.
Yesterday I made
it through all but the final checkpoint to get to my apartment, but they
wouldn't let me go to my apartment because they hadn't cleaned it yet. Meaning, they hadn't cleaned the 5 inches of
soot and pieces of building off the streets and sidewalk. An officer told me there is a high level of
PCB in the ash. I don't know what PCB is,
but he said it was highly carcinogenic.
So today I made it
all the way to my apartment, five checkpoints South of Canal Street and a lot
of smiling and being friendly to men in camouflage. My friend Tracey came with me to help carry
stuff (no cabs or subways running down there so we had to walk a ways with
everything). A police officer escorted
us during the final two blocks, as all residents were being escorted. (Some arrests have been made of people in
Ground Zero getting in the way or being where they're not supposed to be.) I had a definite reaction when we rounded the
front corner of the building, the spot where I witnessed the whole thing.
Today, that spot is base camp for NYPD canine units who are searching for
survivors.
I have been to
candle light vigils. I needed to go and
I'm not done yet. Yesterday I finally cried.
I'm a little jumpy so I think I'm moving, with the rest of the City's
residents, into the next stage of shock.
We're not all stumbling around with blank expressions now, but openly
emotional and tired, with short fuses!
So now we're at
war. Maybe I'll be laid off on the 24th
and head back to California . I would prefer not to be laid off, however,
because I want to save more money before moving. However it's going to happen it will result
in my moving fairly soon, though. My
beautiful neighborhood is now the site of a mass murder and I rather be near
family during war. I have ideas for the
rebuild effort, though (like every good New Yorker I got opinions, ya know?!)
so maybe I can find a way to be useful for a bit before bailing. I still love New York .
I assume that
you're hearing the same reports about what our nation's next steps will
be. I applaud the "sole
dissenter" Democrat in California
who stood up to her 421 fellow Congressmen and the entire Senate to say, this
resolution gives too much of Congress' power to the President. Right or wrong, I take strength from hers!!
love,
Mary
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