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Cloud of gloom hangs over New Yorkers

Suleman Din in New York

A dark cloud of smoke and ash clouded the blue sky over lower Manhattan and cast a pall over the hearts of many angry, sad New Yorkers.

Mustering defiance and offering to help relief workers any way they could, residents tried to come to terms with the terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Centre on Tuesday, leaving possibly thousands dead.

But in the words of many New Yorkers who lined the streets to get a view of the billowing crater where the twin towers once stood, things just wouldn't be the same anymore.

"I just woke up feeling kinda empty," said Mark Barillo, 32, whose apartment was just a block away from the barricades and regiments of police, army, fire and city workers that lined the entire length of Houston Street.

"This has forever changed New York," he continued. "This has forever changed America."

Subways and trains into the city were operational, but entire cars were empty, as were many downtown city streets, cleared only for emergency vehicles.

The echoes of helicopters resounded in the city's concrete alleys, the squawk of police-car and fire-truck sirens punctured the hot air, and instructions barked from bullhorns directed people used to doing things on their own.

Most chose to stay home, wishing to recoup from what everyone, including the president, said was "an act of war".

The commute into New York was sombre. Passengers remained quiet, reading newspapers with screaming headlines and photos of the World Trade Centre up in flames.

A stillness befell the normally boisterous New Jersey passengers on their way to the city as the bus passed the harbour, where the plume snaked out from the buildings surrounding the rubble.

"God help us all," a man with a cane said aloud.

Hilario David, 60, came from his home in the Bronx, where he's lived for 30 years, to witness something he thought he'd never see. "I've been crying for hours," he said. "I'm sorry for all those people who died, for all those people who jumped out of windows."

Barillo stood by the barricades and watched hundreds of volunteer workers enter the zone with shovels and hardhats, and many dump trucks full of twisted metal and computer stationery leave.

"This puts a cloud over us, but we will bounce back," he said. "We should have a rally in Central Park to bring everyone together.

"And we should rebuild the World Trade Centre, to send a message that even though we're down now, we can get back up again."

For some, it was hard to break from a sense of disbelief; only seeing the smoke for themselves would connect them with reality, however ugly it had become.

"This is worse than Pearl Harbour," said Dan Hoffman, 21, a resident of New Jersey. "It will take years for us to understand what happened here."

Louis Salazar, 49, a Queens resident and eyewitness to the attacks, wondered what he would tell his children.

"It was like Inferno," he said. "There is no way to describe it ... I didn't know what to say when I went home."

Some huddled in a corner of the street and cried. True to New York's diversity, they spoke different languages, Russian and Spanish.

Everyone wanted extra protection now. Whether it was a border around Manhattan, extra security checks, an ID pass to get into the city -- something, anything, to prevent an attack happening again.

"I care about my freedom," Salazar said. "But if it means protecting lives, then I'll accept whatever measures are needed."

"I think we've been a bit naïve about our security before," Hilario said. "But they bombed the Pentagon ... nothing is safe."

Hoffman was hopeful that New Yorkers would rebound from this experience. "New York will go on, New York will remain the capital of the world. They should make the World Trade Centre even bigger than before. And those who did this will feel our wrath."

Jose Pabon, 37, from the Bronx, agreed. "Life goes on, I gotta keep going," he said. "The US is one powerful country, and it's gonna take more than this to cripple us.

"I'm ready to go to war if I have to."

Indeed, the idea of war was on the minds of most Americans today.

"This infuriates you -- how can it not?" said Doug Goodstein, 31, a resident in the Upper East Side, who assisted relief workers for 24 hours after the attack.

"When you get hit like this, how could you just sit there?" he said, shaking dust from his body. "If it's a nation, annihilate them, because otherwise they'll do it again."

Others also wondered about what to do next -- but they were thinking about their families, their homes, themselves.

"Downtown New York will be a ghost town now," said Peter Strid, 27, whose apartment was only three blocks away from the World Trade Centre.

"So many people will get up and leave. The fear will always exist; it will always remain. All those people who made so much money working there will wonder, 'Is it all worth it'?"

The Attack on America: The Complete Coverage

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