Day
3, Sister Tzu Ding Shih's Diary, September 11 World Trade Center
Terrorist Attack
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Reported by Tzu Ding Shih,
Commissioner, New York Branch Office
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> Day 3: 9/13
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September 13, 2001
Last night, a group of Tzu Chi people
delivered more goods to the Salvation Army headquarters on
14th Street. After Sister Hui-ru talked to others, they issued
entry passes around 9 in the morning, so Brother Lin Chi-yee
and more than thirty volunteers entered the disaster area
to deliver water and other medical goods.
Around 1 in the afternoon, thirteen New York Tzu Chi people
again rode in two vans to the disaster area to deliver relief
goods. This time we prepared a lot of ice and bottled water,
so that the sweat-covered rescue workers could cool off.
Around 2:30, we
arrived at the Salvation Army headquarters on 14th Street.
We saw piles of relief goods outside the buildings, and truck
after truck was still coming. A huge group of volunteers rushed
in and out, moving everything around. It was an amazing scene.
After we met up with volunteers from New Jersey, we took four
cars into the disaster area. As our car approached the World
Trade Center, I felt like I was entering a war zone. I remembered
that I had come here in June with my father-in-law and my
sister. We strolled happily along these streets and looked
up at the beautiful World Trade Center with admiration. Who
knew that three months later I would come here with a painful
heart and heavy steps, walking toward a pile of rubble?
Putting aside my thoughts, I looked out the window. There
were few people and the buildings were silent, as if they'd
experienced a great shock. There were burnt and destroyed
cars abandoned on the side of the street. It shocked us. We
could imagine the magnitude of the explosion three days ago,
and could also imagine people burned to death!
Around 3:15, we parked the car on a street close to where
the World Trade Center used to be. We got out of the car and
crushed 170 bags of ice and placed it into an ice chest. We
were about to move the bottled water when a building on a
nearby street suddenly began to smoke, as if it would burn
up immediately. A group of policemen and firemen ran towards
us and told us to evacuate immediately, so everyone hurriedly
left the scene.
Everyone headed toward safety, and we looked back every so
often. Without the mesmerizing sight of the "Twin Stars"
(the Twin Towers), the city seemed to lose its luster.
Twenty minutes later, we arrived at Chinatown and walked down
Bowery Street. All the shop doors were tightly closed. Once
full of tourists and cars, Bowery Street now seemed like a
ghost town. I met a friend on the street. He said that his
shop in Chinatown had been open for more than ten years, and
this was the first time he'd ever closed it. He sighed that
Chinatown's economy would deteriorate as a result of the 911
disaster. This news worried us. The lives of Chinese-Americans
will definitely be affected by this event.
After 5, we headed back to the Salvation Army headquarters,
and there we saw Brother Chi-hung arriving with a group of
volunteers from New Jersey. After telling him about the events
of the day, we decided to return home early. Because our belongings
were in our original cars, Brother Huang Ta-fung returned
to the disaster area to get the van to take us home.
While we were waiting for Brother Huang, we saw a continuous
flow of goods arriving. We immediately helped to unload trucks.
Many Americans were very friendly, and we took pictures and
videos to remember this day. At this moment, their friendliness
and the sight of people of different ethnic backgrounds working
together gave me the warm feeling that we were all part of
one family, without any racial or national boundaries separating
us.
After this harrowing experience, I deeply felt that disaster
relief is a difficult thing. Especially in America, there
are so many rules and regulations because people are worried
about safety. But after three days, what I've seen and done
are such precious experiences. With the American sense of
justice, love, strength, confidence, and orderliness in disaster
relief, I believed that with people like these, America will
rise again soon.
