On Tuesday, I arrived to work at the Municipal Building around 8:30 a.m., which is three to five blocks away from the World Trade Center, depending on how you look at a map.
It was a normal business day and the weather had improved from a stormy night previously.
As I went to work and arrived in the offices, my buddy Randy Quezada frantically ran to a group of us to let us know that the WTC was just bombed. I was dumbfounded and couldn’t believe my ears. In our modern age, I could not believe that this was possible. So we went downstairs from the 24th floor to see for ourselves.
As I went downstairs, the security guards were acting ?normal.? But as I approached the outside of our building, masses of people were staring at the WTC with awe and horror.
I saw firsthand the huge gaping hole on the North Tower of the WTC.
As I saw this building billowing with fire and smoke, papers were flying everywhere. People were screaming and crying.
What was more disturbing was the sight of individuals jumping out of their buildings. Just thinking about what was going on within the WTC was unimaginable.
This did not need to happen. This was all too surreal.
As I asked for information, some people said it was a bomb. But my boss Barbara Simmons came up to tell me that it was an airplane, not knowing if it was a commercial plane or a jet.
I told her that it must have been some demented accident. As I regrouped with my colleagues, we comforted each other while staring at the WTC with horror and disbelief.
All of a sudden, as our eyes focused on the North Tower the second building exploded in front of us.
Hearing the screams and the explosion left me immobilized. I could feel the rumbles through every nerve in my body.
I knew that death and destruction surrounded my colleagues and me.
My friend Lauren Margulies grabbed me in fear. I covered her head because the debris was flying in our direction.
Fortunately, none came near us, but the terror was even more real than before. Innocent people began to scream and run from the area. Then the NYPD instructed us to ?Head uptown.? So many people were confused on where to go and what was actually happening.
Were we going home or were we going to live to see our loved ones again?
It was a mass exodus toward uptown Manhattan. It was a sight to see the whole city moving in one direction.
People frantically tried to use their cell phones to call their loved ones or to those who worked at the WTC.
Extensive lines formed at pay phones in order to reach out. Everywhere, people were crying and screaming.
My colleagues and I ducked into a Chinese restaurant to calm our nerves since we thought the worst was over. The people in the restaurant did not know what was going on.
We requested a radio, which seemed to take forever to receive. But, a man in the street opened his car and broadcasted his radio to let passersby know what was going on.
There we learned that the Pentagon was hit. We all thought that we were in a war and we were evacuating a war zone.
All of a sudden, the female broadcaster screamed that the South Tower was collapsing. We immediately rushed out of the restaurant, not knowing if the tower was leaning or imploding.
We were reassured that the building was imploding rather than leaning.
As we rushed out into the streets with the other New Yorkers, we kept on the path uptown on Park Avenue.
It was a morbid sight to see one building standing on fire and the other demolished as smoke arose from the ground it collapsed upon.
Seeing the people as I turned around struck me emotionally.
The people were walking with confusion and fear. I did not want to be there knowing that I was also confused and afraid.
I can honestly attest that New York was a community?giving people information, lending cell phones, carrying people and just comforting someone.
We passed by an automotive shop that had a radio for people to gather around. They gave out free water and phone calls to reach their loved ones.
It was amazing.
There were so many people who did not have shoes as a result of running for their lives. People directed them to stores and offered to help pay for new ones. There were people who had dust all over them, with holes in their clothing.
More important, they were alive and we were a community determined to help each other get through this entire ordeal.
As my colleagues and I walked, we tried to support each other to give strength to keep on going.
As we walked, we continued to have hope that our cell phones would work. My cell phone did not.
Some of us, however, had success. My friend Tami Suh reached her boyfriend and he was watching the news at the time.
He told her that another hijacked plane was still missing in the air (which we found out later crashed in Pennsylvania). We thought that it was either heading to Washington, D.C. or here to New York.
So, every time a plane flew overhead, fear struck the root of our hearts and it was impossible to function clearly.
But later on, I found out they were F-16 jets protecting us from the air.
Then I turned around and saw that none of the towers were standing. It was horrible knowing that so many people died in a matter of minutes or hours.
I could not turn around and see this destruction anymore.
But the uncertainty of another threat made me more conscious and I had to continue to see the elements of this war zone.
We saw a military man in full combat gear carrying his machine gun.
Lauren said, ?This is not America.?
America is not a terrorist country, nor should we be attacked.
It was both frightening and comforting to see him and other military, but how many times do you see military in full force in the streets?
We thought there could be a possible land or sea invasion from an enemy.
We were frightened and didn?t know what was going on. We had to keep moving north.
As I walked over 80 blocks that day, we neared Grand Central Station.
We diverted from Park Avenue to a less crowded street. People were running in our direction stating that there was a bomb.
My colleagues and I froze and turned around to run.
I screamed ?Where??
People began to say ?Car!? or ?It?s in the building, run!? We were trapped; all we could do was run.
I seriously thought my life was going to end, but I was going to run as fast as I could. I remember my friend Marcie Leemore falling and I tried to get her on her feet to run for our lives.
As we neared the end of the street, we all were dumbfounded and asked ourselves, ?What is going on??
Tami began to say, ?We are all sitting ducks.?
None of us knew where to go and we felt vulnerable and unsafe everywhere. As we composed ourselves from running for our lives, some initial thoughts were that it was a hoax.
But a police officer said there was a threat and we needed to evacuate the area. So we decided to head east where some of the buildings were not as important in respect to the financial district and Time Square.
I neared a pay phone and called a good friend and my family in Salt Lake.
They were relieved to hear that I was OK. I had a friend email a message of my survival.
My colleagues and I ducked into a coffee bar to rest from our long migration to uptown Manhattan.
There, we frantically called our other colleagues that were separated or were not there at the Municipal Building during the explosion.
In the coffee shop, we saw a man with no shoes, dust all over him and holes in his pants furiously calling his wife.
It truly hit home that we were in a war zone and that there was hope that a lot of people survived this terrorist act.
As my friends and colleagues separated to go to Brooklyn and Queens using the bridge, I went with others uptown to Morn
ingside Heights near Columbia University where I live.
As I reached 79th street, we heard the subways. We decided to check to see if they worked and they did. As I departed from my colleagues, who are now my good friends, I gave each one a hug.
We had just survived a terrorist attack first-hand.
As I got home, my roommate comforted me. Then, I immediately got on the phone to let others know I was OK.
New York was eerily quiet the next day. The streets were quiet, and commerce completely shut down.
I wanted to keep busy, so I tried to donate blood but did not know my type. They turned me down.
I also tried to go to the wreckage site with my buddy Chris, but they were no longer accepting volunteers.
Mentally, I have been coping with what I survived. I still get anxious whenever I hear a plane fly by. F-16 planes have been flying over my apartment nonstop ever since Tuesday. It is comforting, but at the same time frightening.
Each day is a rollercoaster, but we should be thankful that we are all alive.
I went to St. Patrick?s Cathedral tonight, and not being an active Roman Catholic, it was amazing to see the community here in New York.
While my friend Chris Spillman and I were in the streets for Mass, people gave each other hugs of condolences with sincere concern. It was an amazing place to be.
I am scheduled to go back to work at the Municipal Building tomorrow. That means that I have to go to where the media has so famously called ?Ground Zero.?
I do not know what to expect, but what I do expect is that I will be able to help the city of New York to be where it needs to be. We shall all overcome.
Chau Vu