Revisit of "Ground Zero"

A tribute in light shines above the World Trade Centre site in September, 2010. Photo: AP

'Earthquake!' It was the first thought to hit Leokadia Glogowski when her office in the North Tower swayed erratically 10 years ago today.

'TERRORISM!'  was the first thought of many New Yorkers when the earth contorted in a quake that rocked the American north-east in the weeks before this 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
It has been a tumultuous decade - for New York and Washington and for the world.

Wandering the streets of lower Manhattan today kindles haunting memories for me - of tearful, stricken crowds running uptown as I legged it downtown; disbelief that the first of the twin towers had actually collapsed; sheer terror as the second tower began to pancake; me racing ahead of a grotesque, animal-like cloud of debris as I retreated uptown.

Then the hand of a cleaner, who opened the side door of a bank building, yanking me to safety in the split-second before the streets around us were wrapped in dust, darkness and death.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/revisiting-ground-zero-20110910-1k3me.html#ixzz1XZCFpPSS