The 11th of September in 2001 was a Tuesday. I was working in New York City, and it was just like any other normal work day for me. At the time, I was employed
by a financial services company as an Information Technology specialist. It was a beautiful late summer day. That morning, I was stationed in one of the
company’s Midtown Manhattan offices. At around 9:00 A.M., one of my co-workers who was off that day called our department and told us that there was a fire in one of the World Trade Center Twin Towers in Downtown Manhattan.
Upon hearing the news, my colleagues and I gathered on the 44th floor in our Midtown office to look out the window which had a clear view to the twin towers located a few miles south. The two World Trade Center Towers were the tallest buildings in New York City, and had once held the record for the tallest buildings in the world. From where we stood, we could actually see that there was a huge fire and lot of dark smoke spewing out of Tower One (the more northern of the two towers). One of my co-workers who was watching a news broadcast said that fire had been caused by an airplane crashing into the tower.
We watched the spectacle with innocent curiosity, like onlookers observing a car crash on the side of the road. None of us suspected that the crash was anything other than a terrible accident. However, within a couple of minutes, while we were all standing and watching in awe, we saw another airplane flying towards the South Tower. Then, the airplane flew directly into the south tower and a huge fireball erupted from the other side of the building. At that very moment, I was stunned and shocked! I thought I was dreaming or watching a big budget Hollywood disaster movie. It was surreal. The next thing I knew, the sirens in our building started blaring and that’s when I knew it was really happening. I knew we had to get out of the building right away in case my building was next. The elevators had been shut down, so everyone had to walk down 44 flights of stairs.
Once outside, I heard the horrific news that both towers had collapsed. I found that the sidewalks and streets, which were normally frenetic, had turned into a sea of complete chaos. All public transportation including subway systems and buses were completely shut down. Cell phone service was almost non-existent. Deafening police and fire engine sirens were everywhere. People were running aimlessly and there was screaming and crying. I knew I had to get off the island of Manhattan and somehow make it to the relative safety of my home across the river in Astoria, Queens. People were jumping onto the cars and trucks driving by so they could get out of the city. I tried to do the same but nearly fell off the truck I was holding onto because it was so crowded, so I jumped off. The only safe way to get home was to travel the nearly 5 miles on foot. It took me three and half hours to walk back to my apartment that day.
Over the next several days, the realization of what had happened began to sink in. My company, like many others in New York City, had had offices in the World Trade Center. These offices had been destroyed, and we later learned that many of our colleagues who worked in these offices had been killed. I was nearly one of them because I had been assigned to a training session in the World Trade Center office for that very day, but luckily, the class for 9/11 had been cancelled a few days prior.
Amidst the mourning, our Information Technology Management team began to assess the situation and determine how to proceed in the wake of the horrible loss. The recovery process began almost immediately after the traumatic event. One of the major early goals was to relocate the World Trade Center staff who had survived the tragedy. Most of these displaced workers were moved to the midtown office where I worked. I was one of the lead techs and was involved in many of these recovery projects. By Friday, September 14th, I was back in the midtown office, setting up and connecting the displaced staff from the Downtown office. This required coordination with many other departments including engineering, networking, and security teams. Within two weeks, we had accommodated 2,500 new users in the Midtown office.
This would normally have been a herculean task to achieve in such a short period of time, but we were able to accomplish it due to a well thought out and implemented disaster recovery and business continuity plan. Business Continuity Plans (BCP’s) ensure continuous performance of an organization’s mission-essential functions in an emergency situation, ensure safety of employees, protect essential equipment, records, and other assets, reduce disruptions to operations, minimize damage and losses, and achieve an orderly recovery from emergency operations. Some of the planning basics must include but are not limited to: developing and practicing a contingency plan, risk and business impact analysis, training of backup employees to perform emergency tasks, making business continuity exercises realistic, testing a continuity plan regularly, insurance, planning methods for communications during a crisis, etc.
Following 9/11, I was part of the BCP committee and helped manage the BCP plan for various office locations throughout New York City. We made sure that the BCP was part of our monthly exercise and drill schedule. In 2003, our BCP was put into effect again when there was a blackout in New York City as well as much of the eastern United States. The BCP plan worked admirably.
It’s been almost twelve years since the tragedy of September 11th, 2001. I’m no longer with my old company, but I know that I was an important part of the team that helped in the recovery process. My company survived in the aftermath of 9/11 in part because of its BCP.
I too survived 9/11. I know I’m lucky to be alive and am truly thankful.
About the Author
Will Vattananun was born and raised in Thailand. At the age of 20, he ventured out of his own country to pursue his dream. Will has over 20 years of professional experience in project management, training and technical support within large-scale IT portfolios, service projects and MIS operations. He is skilled in infrastructure integration and solutions for both software and hardware and enterprise technology implementations including: analysis, design, development and maintenance to include full multi-tier environments.
Will has a bachelor degree from Drexel University and holds a masters degree from New York University. He is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®). Will is currently living in New York, and working part-time for the U.S. Department of Defense as a strategic communication specialist.
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