New York

The attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York were, to a remarkable degree, international events. Although most of the people who lost their lives were American, citizens of some eighty other countries were also killed. People around the world saw the New York and Washington attacks almost instantly on television.

There are many concentric circles of grief radiating from this event, in New York, in the United States, and in other countries. Thousands of families are affected, thousands of children left without parents. Americans are suddenly more aware of the impact of terrorist action in other countries as well as their own, and also of the consequences of great natural disasters.

Some of our UN representatives in New York have told us about their experiences in the aftermath of the attacks. Haydee Montenegro, a psychologist who works for New York State, was driving to work from New Jersey when she saw the second plane hit one of the towers, and then saw both towers collapse. She phoned her local fire department, and was assigned to do mental health triage for people evacuated by ferry across the Hudson River to New Jersey. Later that day she was sent to the hospital nearest to the World Trade Center, and spent the following two days providing assistance to families and crisis intervention, describing it as “excruciating work.”

For the remainder of that week, as relief efforts became more organized, she continued to provide mental health support for families at a central location, and also for government investigators returning there after working at the site. The following week, she worked with employees at a major bank building facing the Trade Center, where many staff members were profoundly distressed. She has now registered with the Red Cross for further training as an emergency response volunteer.

Nancy Wallace, an experienced trauma and disaster relief counselor, has been counseling the staff and family members of a large firm located near the World Trade Center. Most of these people witnessed the event first-hand. The firm lost several of its own workers, and its daily business with other companies that have lost hundreds of workers has impacted its staff severely. She has also been working with several agencies and mental health groups to mobilize and deploy volunteer mental health workers to some of the sites with critical needs.

Anie Kalayjian was chairing the United Nations Department of Information’s 54th annual conference for NGOs when UN headquarters was suddenly evacuated. The conference managed to reconvene for a brief closing session two days later, but the organizers then had to provide practical assistance for many participants from abroad who were stranded in New York and could not fly home. The conference participants had come from 92 countries. Later, Dr. Kalayjian (who has worked in earthquake relief efforts in Armenia and Turkey) organized a series of programs at Fordham University for mental health professionals on aspects of disaster relief work. She also helped the university’s faculty and counseling center for students.

Board member Chueh Chang was visiting New York from Taiwan in September. While she was in New York, Taiwan experienced a severe typhoon which killed close to 100 people. She went home with the resolve to do further work to improve the training of volunteers for relief work after natural disasters (Taiwan experienced a major earthquake in September 1999). Many members from countries where such disasters have taken place will recognize that the need for emotional support can continue for a long time afterwards.