Publisher's Synopsis
The world woke up to the news that two passenger jets, were hijacked and made to crash into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, New York City. There were conspiracy theories, miraculous happenings and debates about 9/11. Twin Miracle at Twin Tower is to share what had happened on that day and the effect it had on two families. A catastrophe of this nature is a never-ending story of surprises, twists, and turns, and we do enjoy reading with a happy ending.
Twin Miracle at Twin Tower is a story of two miracles. The first one was of two New York-based medical professionals, and the second was that of the fiancee of an American youngster. In both the cases, they were declared missing. Ground Zero, as the center was referred to, reinforced the gravity of the attack and the impact it had on not just the people of New York, but on the entire world at large.
Paul, the husband of one of the missing person, felt the need to keep a meticulous record of 168 hospitals in and around the disaster site, as he felt he was going around and round in circles. His 'record book', proved to be so useful for other agencies, who sought his help. The record book contained addresses and phone numbers of personnel manning Red Cross centres, the disaster management offices, the disaster relief operations and various volunteer organizations. These voluntary services included translators, delivering supplies, removing debris, helping with crowd control, donating blood, counselling and providing food. These voluntary organisations were able to assimilate and give information of missing persons. For every person missing, there are two to seven people roaming around looking for them. At a given time, Ground Zero had between 60,000 to 70,000 people.
It was at this time that they blamed 'total mayhem' a term which was coined immediately after 9/11. Not a single organization knew what was happening. Because of the lack of readiness to handle the situation, there was even more confusion following the second airplane crash into the tower. Initially, people thought that the first aeroplane had crashed into the tower by accident, but when the second one crashed, it became clear that it was a planned attack.
The U.S. has about 5,000 hospital systems. They do get $500 million a year in funding for disaster preparedness, but it is still inadequate, so what we have is a shockingly unprepared U.S. healthcare system. In a disaster, the public, gripped by panic, considers hospitals safe sanctuaries, and they go there, pushing the already overworked hospital personnel to breaking point. And that adds to the chaotic situation.
There was also a "vacuum of authority" when, even after 72 hours of the 9/11 attack, there was no recognized organization to respond to the situation in a responsible manner. The official response organization's Office of Emergency Management had lost its infrastructure in the attacks. Even the Red Cross, transitioning from local operations to Disaster Relief Operations, was hampered by the inability of the national disaster personnel to arrive because planes and trains were not operating. To top it all, the disaster site had had large identification and screening challenges, and the complexity of the response and recovery needs had operations increasing when they should normally have decreased. This had resulted in an overwhelming demand for volunteers. New York City community centres already had the resources to initiate and work around the clock on a wide variety of protective response activities. This national disaster made thousands of volunteers from surrounding areas converge to help the official agencies, a phenomenon known as "spontaneous volunteers," which was noticed for the first time during 9/11.
Miracles have happened in the past, and happened on 9/11. It's just that some were publicized and some were not.
