I’m fine, so are Matthew, Kim, Itay, Rosa, Felix, Michelle, Liz Wollman, Zach and Julia–I’ve talked to or seen them all. [Sept 12–also heard about or got in touch with Liz jacobs, Fergus McCormick, Osten Johanssen and Kathy Blake, they’re all fine]. To get in touch, try to call me at 646 295 7733.

I was listening to the radio when the first crash happened, went to my roof and saw the horror unfold there. My mental map still has those building there, I walked through them yesterday evening, with the very same people who went back today. As Jame said who called me a little while ago, there is nothing intelligent to add to this, so I won’t. All I can hope is that the two towers stood long enough for most people to be able to evacuate.

If you want to post comments or say you’re OK or ask about others, do use the comment button below.

[Tue 21:12] Charles (email) Hey, good to hear you are OK, have been trying to reach you for news/reassurance during most of the day. Look after yourself,

–c.

[Tue 21:30] Marge’ (email) Stefan: So grateful for your message and that you (and others) are OK. It has been impossible to get through to NY by phone. I’ll try to call tomorrow (Wed.)

Marge

[Tue 23:15] Kartika (email) hi Stefan- I sent an e-mail to you earlier today- we are so worried here in Australia about our friends and relatives and most of us have stayed up all night watching events unfold. I just cannot comprehend it. It seems so awful that a nation prepared for biological warfare and more “sophisticated” forms of terrorism is susceptible to such a crude attack.

Glad to know that you are well. Are all the lines jammed to New York? I have been trying to call friends and rels- some of whom work in the world trade centre, and have had no success.

Take care- our hopes and prayers from here are with our US friends.

Kartika

[Wed 00:21] Tonje (email) Very happy that you and everyone in NY are safe. Have been doing my bit to try to clog up the phonelines, but have been unable to get through to anyone. It all looks horrifying and surreal out here on the west coast. Simply unbelievable. Cannot imagine seeing it all in real life; I think of your roof as a place to drink beer, hang out and enjoy a lazy sunday afternoon with nothing more weighty on ones mind than where to go for dinner and drinks. Am thinking about all of you in NY; look after yourselves,

-Tonje

[Wed 02:21] veronique (email) Thanks for keeping us posted! I am so glad you are all OK. Hope you got through to Liz, Osten and Fergus. I couldn’t reach anyone and wasn’t sure who works exactly where in the city. I am very relieved. Here at the radio station it has been crazy. The stupied thing is I had to work on an interview with some fahion designer while all my collegues tried to get the lates news for broadcasting. I didn’t realize how big this was till I saw the evening news (5 hours later.) And it wasn’t till that moment that it hit me that you and others I know could have been hurt. All of a sudden it felt real, and much more scary. Take care, hugs and kisses veronique

[Wed 03:47] susannah Gold (email) Glad to hear you are okay Stefan. Osten is fine. Thanks for writing to let us know what is going on and that everyone is okay. You are all in my thoughts. I feel so cut off over here. It’s awful to have to watch Emilio Fede give the news. I can’t imagine what it must be like there. Please continue to update on Liz and Fergus. Sending you a huge hug and kiss Susannah

[Wed 05:30] Jeff Rowland (email) Stefan:

Like the rest, I’m very glad to hear that you and our fellow Saisers are fine. My wife Laura and I were thinking about all our friends in NYC as this despicably tragic event unfolded. Like Susannah, we feel so far away — and a bit useless — just watching the tragedy on CNN and the like. Please keep us posted on Liz and Fergus. Our thoughts are with all of you. Cheers, Jeff

[Wed 06:10] Rosa (email) For those of us who have clear view of the towers or work in the area, yesterday was a surreal day. For myself I had arrived the prior day from my travels and was recuperating, when I heard tha the towers had been hit by airplanes. My immediate response was “preposterous!”

I will never forget looking out of my window searching for the comforting view of the towers when all that was visible was a cloud of dark smoke. I could not believe it. After that it was a rush to get Itay home as he worked near there and to confirm that all friends were well.

Today in the frenzy of following the news and donating blood, as Stefan said, we will search for the comfort of friends and family as the reality of the number of deaths hits us and the retaliation that might ensue as a result.

Rosa Emilia

[Wed 07:34] Kathy Blake (email) I’m o.k. too. I was on the subway when the first plane hit as I was late for work. This summer, I managed to come down w/ mono and have been just recently getting back to work so I was on a reduced schedule. I got off at City Hall b/c Fulton St. was closed and saw people flooding up the street and over the Brooklyn Bridge. Glittery black smoke was spewing in the direction of Brooklyn and fire was burning in the north tower. Fire and rescue had closed the streets that feed into the complex and were urging people to move northwards. When the tower collapsed, I was a couple of streets north. There was this huge roar, and a loud crumbling sound – everyone screamed and ran. I was on Broadway and looked over to where they would have evacuated everyone in my building – I worked in 7 World Trade – to see this huge wave of smoke and ash pouring up Greenwich Street. It was incredible. For blocks if you looked towards the river, there was nothing but a grey sheet.

My division – Citigroup Asset Management – was based in that building. The whole thing is just gone, destroyed. Fortunately, at this point, Citi is saying that there are no casualties in our group. A friend from California managed to reach another friend of ours who works in CT normally but had to be in our building for a meeting yesterday and told me that after the first plane hit, they cleared out our building. That was about 10 p.m. and was the first news I’d had all day of my co-workers….

Stefan – thanks for the updates on everyone. I’m glad to know that they and you are o.k. I was worried about you being there b/c I didn’t know if you were still at your job or not. Aideen told me via e-mail that she could see the smoke in Stamford.

Ciao.

[Wed 10:40] Merc¿ Kirchner Baliu (email) Hi Stefan, thanks for keeping us updated on our friends in NY. I was at a friends place preparing for lunch when the news broke, it was like an “in crescendo” path to ever more horrific events. Thank God, in the evening I was able to get hold of Julia and Zach on the phone and know that most of you are OK. I hope Liz is OK, too. I can hardly concentrate today at work and anywere I am, thinking of all of you and on how the world is going to change as of yesterday. Lots of love. Merc¿.

[Wed 11:47] Jill Russell (email) Well, here in DC we had the predictable helmet fires. Watching the TV about the WTC when news came about the Pentagon. Then the threats to the White House. Needless to say we were evacuated, sent home for the day. Adam, thankfully, works at Quantico, so he was ok. Bizarre, though, being so close to the events here, the real impact to me were events in NY. My sister has offices pretty much next door – the building attached to the Millennium Hotel – but thanks to the fact that she is chronically late, she witnessed the second impact and the first collapse from the train. She had people on one of the planes, people at a trade show at Windows on the World, clients in the many investment banking offices. Thus far, at least one of our high school acquaintances has been touched by this – her husband, working on one of the top floors of the first building hit managed to call home for a last goodbye and love you. I can’t imagine how many other people with whom I went to high school have been touched. And the firemen – a neighbor from our beach community was on the force, as were his sons, so who knows about that. I move all over the country, but New York is my home.

Very strange to be a defense contractor today – all of our work seems so very mundane and pointless. And considering that a number of our clients may either be gone or at the very least their offices in ruins, it’s hard to imagine what will be coming. So, we do some routine busywork for the next few days, waiting to see what will happen.

So very, VERY happy to hear that our group has been unscathed thus far – I hope it remains so.

Best wishes and peace to all,

Jill

[Wed 15:50] Chris Donat (email) Stefan,

Thanks for keeping us informed. I have spent the last 24 hours watching events unfold on TV from Oakland, California. For much of that time I was holding my two-month old son. The juxtaposition of a smiling baby and unspeakable horror is jarring. We all begin life as innocents. How is it that some become victims, some survivors and some murderers?

For those that would like to see an image of life and hope, here’s a photo of Cole

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~crdonat/page0002.html

[Thu 11:24] Gilles Fellens (email) I am unbelievably relieved that all of you are OK. Courage!

[Thu 11:56] Kathy Blake (email) Laura Aguilar can be added to the list of those who are o.k. I’m not sure where she worked. I got a message from Jenny Gayer via Hazlyn Fortune. Hazlyn also has lots of friends and family who worked in the area and was unable to reach her mom (a retired nurse) for a while with all the telecom traffic. I have heard that her mom and other family and friends are fine.

[Tue 07:43] Gioia Marini (email) Has anyone heard from Netta Korin? I thought she worked in Midtown, but at this point you want to be sure about everyone and anyone who lives/works on Manhattan.

I myself just got back to Amsterdam on September 10th from New York, where i was visiting Laura Aguilar. I saw Hylke as well; I’ve heard from him since the attack and he’s safe and well.

Finally, I just wanted to add one thing my father told me a couple days after the attack. The scenes we all saw on TV of some Arabs in the Middle East celebrating after hearing of the devastation in New York were shocking and, frankly, sickening. But as a friend (American) of my father reminded him, that is precisely how Americans reacted after dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is NOT to say that we Americans deserve what we got, or that those Arabs can be forgiven for reacting in such a manner. It just puts things into perspective, I think. Just as Hiroshima changed the geopolitical landscape in ways Americans could not have imagined when they dropped the bomb, so will September 11th change and determine the reality of international security issues and perhaps even the future of democracies.

I’m glad to hear everyone is safe.

[Fri 05:49] Luke (email) I’m fine (working overseas) although I know of at least one casualty at the Pentagon. Pretty shocking, since I used to live and work about a mile away.

Anyone know what happened to/of Ladan (SAIS, ’93?)

Thanks,

:LK