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Sunday, 16 September, 2001, 11:58 GMT 12:58 UK
Finding that blitz spirit
![]() The devastation has brought residents together
The World Trade Center was synonymous with business, but thousands of people lived in its extensive shadow. The devastation has brought neighbours closer together. In a community centre just a few blocks from where the twin towers once stood, a new kind of order has emerged from the mayhem.
Some speak from the heart, voicing their innermost emotions, others focus on more practical matters - when do the schools go back, how to wash when there is no hot water, where to make a phone call. And one or two openly reflect on how the horror that was visited on this inner-city neighbourhood has actually brought people closer.
"God truly spared my life, and I think for all of us standing around in this room we were all spared for a reason - that reason being that we can reaffirm our lives as a community." Before the meeting closes, everyone stands up, joins hands and sings several mournful chorus of Amen. Together in adversity This is definitely not your run-of-the-mill New York experience. The denizens of this city are renowned the world over for their curtness and lack of overt charm.
In Tribeca, the district just north of where the famous towers once stood, everyone now has the same concerns. In the three 40-storey tower blocks that make up Independent Plaza North, residents have been without gas, hot water and telephone lines since Tuesday. One block has no electricity. Children have been off school, elderly people have been unable to get food and medicine while the shops were closed and everyone is worried about the huge pall of smoke that hangs close by. Asbestos is a major worry, especially since every street and balcony was caked in a layer of dust after the towers collapsed. With their own eyes Local stores have begun to reopen, and when the owner of the nearby drugstore said he wasn't fit enough to go back to work, residents took charge.
The company that owns the tower blocks has donated an empty apartment for counselling sessions that have been organised by a local psychotherapist. Lots of residents witnessed at first hand the horror of last Tuesday. John Scott feels local people were initially overlooked as all the focus went on those who worked in the towers.
Worries like this have contributed to the flight of many residents away from the area, to shelters or to stay with family or friends. City council member Kathryn Freed estimated the number of homeless at about 30,000. Her bleary eyes and worn expression are a result of the 18-hour days she is working to address the concerns of locals. "I've just been dealing with the practicalities but there is so much to do sometimes I just think it's impossible." Desolate backyard While residents try to get back to some kind of normality, reminders of the suffering are all around - from the constant parade of emergency workers up and down the street to the hum of generators that power floodlights on every street corner.
"As a New Yorker those towers were our signposts. We tell people if you want to come to the house just head for the World Trade Center. It's the New York skyline, it's our backyard. "Seeing it down is quite surreal. Sometimes I just don't believe my eyes."
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