Events in New York have shocked the world
On a human level many Americans live outside the US and they have been gripped by the events unfolding in their homeland.
Many face an anxious wait for news about friends and relatives in New York and Washington DC - regardless of their direct connection to the attacks, all ex-pat Americans have been shocked by events.
BBC Scotland spoke to Dana Green, from New Hampshire, and Miranda Weigler from Portland, Oregon, to get their reaction.
Ms Green is President of the St Andrews University Students' Association and Ms Weigler is a third year student at the university.
Ms Green had two cousins involved in the attacks - one works for the Port Authority in New York and was in his office in the World Trade Center when the plane hit the building.
She has heard that he managed to get out and that he is okay.
Ms Green also had a cousin working in the Pentagon when it was attacked - the explosion was in another part of the building and he was also able to get out.
She said: "We haven't actually spoken to either of them, but the one in the Pentagon is fine and the one in the World Trade Center - apparently his wife was handed a hand-scrawled note saying he was alive."
Ms Weigler added: "It's sort of hard to think that everything just keeps going, when you talk to your family and everything there has stopped and here everything just keeps going.
"It's hard to deal with because you don't quite know what to do because you want to be able to do something but you are completely helpless."