The Center for National Policy and Voices of September 11th, in cooperation with the Community and Regional Resilience Institute and Rockefeller Foundation, co-hosted The 9/11 Tenth Anniversary Summit at the Newseum in D.C. last Thursday.
The theme of the program: 'Remembrance, Renewal, Resilience' was dedicated to the historic events that took place a decade ago.
The opening ceremony began at 9 a.m. with remarks from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State. Four short-film documentaries were shown with narrations by many including actor Tom Hanks. Following were panel discussions with speakers from the films, including Chris Ward, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania.
Remembrance introduced the "Voices of 9/11", the survivors who spoke about their side of the story on that Tuesday ten years ago.
"I didn't know how to describe it," explained civilian Dana Tamuccio. "It was like a really heavy feeling in your chest or in your stomach, and it's almost as if your mind was blank and it's just this silence in your head."
Tamuccio's brother, Michael Tamuccio was a victim of the 9/11 attacks.
Mary Fetchet, director of Voices of 9/11, received a phone call from her son who worked in the second world trade center just moments before the plane crashed into the building.
The survivor's supported the memories of their loved ones by establishing organizations and events to remember their presence and their passing and show how life moves on but lives will never be forgotten.
Renewal brought forth an inside look of the origins of the 9/11 memorial, including the construction of the Memorial Museum, the intricate pathways of the World Trade Center train station and the World Trade Center Skyscraper, to be completed in 2013, despite the unfavorable weather. The memorial and museum, which recently opened in New York City, revealed two reflecting pools where the twin towers once stood, with the names of all the victims inscribed in bronze onto the stone. The lower Manhattan version of Grand Central, with its magnificent structure of a bird in flight, and the skyscraper still has a few years before it is completed.
"We're at 82 stories of steel, 71 stories of concrete deck and 52 stories of curtain deck," said Chris Ward at the panel on Thursday.
Chief architect, Naguib Aboud, declared it to be the ‘safest skyscraper in the world', able to withstand attacks unlike the twin towers and other buildings that are at least 80 years old and weren't designed for that purpose. In response to the September 11th attacks, we have become more cautious and security measures are being taken more seriously now than they were ten years ago.
Resilience, the main outline of the summit was associated with the other catastrophes like Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the recession, and the gulf oil spill. People offered help to strangers, shared food with neighbors who had none, and for September 11th, assisted with boatlifts to evacuate thousands of people from lower Manhattan.
W. Craig Fugate, FEMA Administrator, believed resilience was an act of community leadership, people and commitment. Over 30 million dollars in cash was given out to people in need and schools were reopened as soon as possible. Building off of tragedy kept people sane, and in their efforts they hope to tell the story that we can rebuild and overcome to future generations.
Epoch Times stated more people were killed during the September 11th attack than all other terrorist attacks in the United States between 1970 and 2010 combined. What shook the lives of millions of Americans and took the lives of nearly 3,000 citizens and soldiers is equivalent to those lost in World War II and the Vietnam War.
Documentaries and interviews from the event can be viewed on the web at http://www.road2resilience.org
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