Thousands of people perished that day including hundreds of brave firefighters of New York. The thousands, who were able to escape from the burning buildings before the steel structures melted from the heat generated by aviation fuel, all have amazing stories to tell. The hundreds of commuters, who had to run for their lives after emerging from metro stations, still speak of the horror of seeing the ground littered with burnt and broken bodies, body parts and myriad items like shoes, handbags, shards of glass, pieces of burnt metal, computer printouts and office documents. Some survivors walked for the entire day before finding their way home. One frightening aspect of the tragedy was the fact that several telephone systems were down so that some persons could not immediately check on the whereabouts of family members and other loved ones.

Two dozen Guyanese were among the people of 80 countries working in the Twin Towers. And therein lay one of the ironies of this terrorist act. Who knows how many persons working in the World Trade Center were fully sympathetic to one or more aspects of the Islamic cause? Yet, their lives were snuffed out by the terrorists, who felt compelled to make such a barbaric point.

Twelve months after that tragic day, the world is still reeling from its economic and other effects. Approximately 200,000 jobs were lost or directly affected by the falling towers; fear of flying translated into losses of US$200M per day. Tens of thousands of airline employees were laid off, and the Bush administration, recognising the plight of the airline industry, moved swiftly to prop it up with loans and grants totalling US$15 Billion. Less than eight days after the tragedy, the Caribbean tourism industry began to feel its economic bite. Countless holiday reservations were cancelled and this translated in fewer seats bought from regional carriers Air Jamaica and British West Indian Airways (British West Indian Airways) and low hotel occupancy. Empty hotels automatically meant severe job cutting in the hospitality sector.

Analysts see the economic fallout affecting developing countries negatively in several ways. Firstly, there is less foreign direct investment (FDI) available, and secondly, the millions of hard currency remittances have been reduced. Further, Third World countries, which can least afford it, will have to expend more on security measures in order to continue exporting goods and services to industrialised countries.