New York: A tale of two cities

200,000 tons of debris have been cleared

By the BBC's Mike Donkin in New York

A month to the day since two passenger jets were flown into the twin towers of New York's World Trade Centre, recovery teams are still working around the clock to clear the wreckage.

More than 5,000 people are now estimated to have died in the attack, but only 438 bodies have yet been recovered.

Mayor Giuliani has praised New Yorker's spirit

The city's mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, has paid an anniversary tribute to what he calls the extraordinary courage shown by rescuers and ordinary citizens, but daily life in New York is still far from normal.

There are now two New Yorks. Beyond downtown Manhattan the yellow taxis jostle at the lights again, window shoppers are back on the sidewalks and there is a full house to roar support at the Yankees' big baseball game.

Danger ahead

Ground Zero shows a grimmer face. In the month since the unbelievable happened, men and machines have dug night and day to clear 200,000 tons of debris to date.

They have made the most of the autumn sunshine because a long and dangerous winter of work still lies ahead with the base of the twin towers driven deep into the ground and into the subway tunnels beneath.

Fires still suddenly flare in the mountain of twisted metal and concrete.

Counting the cost

Downtown too most roads remain shut and so do many businesses - 100,000 thousand jobs have been lost.

The price of putting New York back together again and boosting its damaged economy is being estimated at $54bn.

Federal funds are being sought for that, but self-help is also being summoned up.

Manhattan's most exclusive restaurants are offering a week of lunches at $20 to encourage diners to fill their empty tables again.