Finding words when there are none

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September 2001 News & Events

Darren Smith - Managing Editor Hi-Tech Security Solutions

Headlines were brief. 'Apocalypse', 'Act of War' and 'Nightmare', Slate writer John Lahr recounted reading. The reason was simple, he said: "There is no need for words, really; there is nothing to say."

Stranded in the netherworld between the official death toll of 94 and the 11000-plus body bags that New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has acknowledged ordering, reporters filled the void with, among other focuses, dispatches on the business toll. "Companies need to get back to normal because that is therapeutic," an employee-relations expert told ABCNews.com. But normalcy was not to be found. The Wall Street Journal reported companies' struggle to locate the scattered programmers, system administrators and execs who keep the back-up computer systems running. Thedestruction of a 47-story building adjacent to the World Trade Center is likely to set back probes by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which had its New York City field office there, several outlets reported. All SEC staff members had been evacuated safely.

The New York Times mournfully reported Wall Street's losses, including coverage of Risk Waters Group, a tech conference sponsor that had expected 180 attendees at Windows on the World, the restaurant that had topped one of the World Trade Center towers. The company was trying to determine the attendees' fates, the Times wrote. "But it had no good news to offer."

Nor did Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, which had more people in the World Trade Center than anyone else. The media widely reported CEO Philip Purcell's memo that a 'vast majority' of the firm's 3500 employees were accounted for. The Times eyed Purcell's bright outlook with a compassionate skepticism, reporting that the firm declined to say how many were believed to have died, and quoting from Purcell's Wednesday address to employees, where the chief exec sounded less optimistic. "It is not a good story," he told employees.

But corporate generosity is. The Associated Press reported that General Electric pledged $10 million for the families of New York firefighters, police officers and rescue workers who died trying to help victims. Cisco Systems donated $6 million to the Red Cross and other relief groups. Amazon is collecting funds online for the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. Reuters reported that a counter on the donation page showed that 25 365 people had donated nearly $670 000 as of Wednesday afternoon.

Amid the sea of hard-won words, [our] thoughts kept returning to those of CNN anchor Aaron Brown, who told the Los Angeles Times that after watching the replay of the first plane crashing into the World Trade Center tower hundreds of times, "I cannot shake the image. I finally sat in a hotel roomat about 2 a.m., and I cried. I just cried. I did not like being alone with this story." - Deborah Asbrand

We at Hi-Tech Security Solutions extend our heartfelt sympathy for those who have lost loved ones, and pray for those who are still waiting to hear from missing friends and family.

This is also the appropriate space and time to give recognition to the efforts of those who continue to offer their time, skills, resources and energy to companies that have seen their people and premises wiped out.

Darren Smith - Managing Editor Hi-Tech Security Solutions

NYC requests 6 000 body bags (AP)

http://web.realcities.com/content/rc/news/attack/bayarea/1956245014.htm

The breakfast table

http://slate.msn.com/code/breakfast/breakfast.asp?Show=9/12/2001&idMessage=8275&idBio=288#8275

Coping with disaster

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/business/DailyNews/WTC_company_terror010912.html

Recovery of records daunting, dut doable

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0109130289sep13.story?coll=chi%2Dbusiness%2Dhed

Traders deal with losses of the most painful kind

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/13/business/13WALL.html

Tragedy seems even greater for one firm