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CNN Live At Daybreak
America Under Attack: New York Begins Recovery From Attack
Aired September 13, 2001 - 07:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Back here in New York City, as I mentioned earlier on, the recovery begins one step at a time. The public schools are open today. They open two hours late to give teachers and counselors the time to discuss exactly how they are going to confront students with the reality of what has happened here in our city.
At this moment some 100 buildings have been damaged in the area surrounding the World Trade Center. And right now we're going to go to Michael Okwu to give us an update on what rescue workers are finding this morning -- Michael.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Right now the first thing on my mind is that this is a city in contrasts. Just due north of me -- you might not be able to see it from the cameras, of course -- but just due north of me New Yorkers are waking up to a rising sun and it is a beautiful, beautiful sight. And yet behind me a completely different story. This plume of smoke that has come to symbolize what has happened here, the total devastation, has become rather black and it is moving due east right up against the rising sun just east of this site towards Queens and part of Brooklyn.
Rescue workers, of course, worked throughout the night. They, as of last night, 82 bodies, of course, were found. Rescue workers are telling us that they are finding actually more body parts than they're actually finding bodies. Of course, the number of those who have been found is expected to rise and perhaps dramatically at some point today.
Mayor Giuliani, as you mentioned at the top of the hour here, has asked for more body bags. He's asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency for more than 6,000 body bags and of course there may be some additional requests as the day continues.
Just outside of this ring here along the West Side Highway due west of us there are trucks lining up waiting to take more of the bodies to various parts of the city.
Pockets of fire inside the site right now behind us. You might not be able to see it because of the plume of smoke, which, of course, is like a pall that has descended over this city. Now, there is indication at some point today that there has been a strain on hospitals. Mayor Giuliani has stressed the fact that the city is prepared for this and people are working ceaselessly to try to attend to victims and -- but they do say that they need more clothes, that they need more beds for medical staff who have been working overnight to sleep on and they certainly continue to ask for more blood -- Paula.
ZAHN: So, Michael, before I let you go, I know you've had a chance to talk to rescue workers who have been in and out of there. What are they telling you about what they have seen?
OKWU: Well, you can't use negative words too much for a story like this. It is absolutely gruesome. When I say that this plume of smoke is like a pall that's descended over the city, well, it's the rescue workers who are at ground zero seeing this, this twisted metal. There is debris all over the street. There are basically inches of ash and soot, what appears to be ash and soot, which, of course, is this material and papers that have burned throughout the past 48 hours here.
And they're saying that they're finding body parts. And again, more body parts than they're actually finding bodies.
The interesting thing is what is going to happen tonight. How will the rescue workers be affected by what we expect is going to be a major weather change. It's a beautiful, clear day today, but we expect that we might get some rain tonight. Will that affect what they have to do? Will it actually cool down the fires that are inside that are making it so dangerous for rescue workers to get even closer or will it completely make things more difficult for them, obscure their view and make it physically more uncomfortable. That remains to be seen -- Paula.
ZAHN: Michael, thank you so much for that update.
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