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CNN Live At Daybreak

Cleanup Continues at Trade Center Site, Three Months After Attacks

Aired December 11, 2001 - 06:08   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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, even as the country marks three months since the attacks, cleanup efforts are moving ahead at ground zero, and Lauren Glassberg from our CNN affiliate WABC in New York joins us this morning with more on a very special memorial service that's going to be taking place today there -- Lauren.

LAUREN GLASSBERG, CNN AFFILIATE WABC: That's right, they're marking three months today -- three months it's amazing when you look behind me and you see just how much debris remains. So far crews have removed 741,000 tons, but the city expects that this cleanup will take a full year, and of course, you know the death toll has dropped. It's expected to have about 3,000 people to have died as opposed to about 5,000, which was originally believed.

Now in terms of the recovery effort, those continue throughout the day, throughout the night. But today there will be a brief pause for a prayer service set to begin at 8:40, just a couple of blocks from the site. And at 8:48 a moment of silence, of course, to mark when the first plane hit the first of the Twin Towers. And also, another ceremony over Battery Park, that is just a couple of blocks from the former site of the World Trade Center.

There, students from Sivison High School (ph) will carry flags representing the 82 countries from which people were from who died in the terror attack, and 25,000 bulbs were planted to remember the victims. So here we are three months out and a time for reflection. Back to you Carol.

LIN: Lauren, I'm just wondering, over the last three months, how are the rescue workers holding up there and do these memorial services help bolster that morale there, because I know they've got a pretty tough job. They're coming across a lot more bodies now.

GLASSBERG: They are -- indeed, they came across about six more over the weekend, but in many ways when we talk to the rescue workers, they say finding the bodies encourages them, and it keeps them doing their job, which of course is so strenuous emotionally and physically, but they feel they are here for their brothers, their sisters, the firefighters, the EMS, the port authority police who have not been recovered. So that of course keeps them going and of course a prayer service is a time to reflect. No doubt there will be many tears shed, but that happens for all people of New York and of course throughout the world who have watched these tragic events unfold. LIN: And people around the world will be remembering today. Thank you very much. Lauren Glassberg reporting live from the site of the former World Trade Center.

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