Remembering 9/11

We are nearing the anniversary of a tragic day in American history.  It is a day that I will never forget and a day I think is important that we all remember.

My family and I were living in New Jersey, just west of New York City on September 11, 2001.  We are one of those lucky stories. 

My wife worked just across the street from the World Trade Center and she took the PATH train into the World Trade Center each morning on her way to work.  On September 11, 2001, Cindy had a doctor’s appointment and did not go in to work that day.  I still shudder every time I imagine where she would have been had she not had a doctor’s appointment that day.

I am a consultant.  I had a handful of clients in New York City including one in the World Trade Center and two in adjacent buildings.  I was scheduled to work out of my office in West Orange, NJ that day.  Like I said – we were lucky.

On my way into the office I was listening to a traffic report on the radio.  The reporter was in a helicopter hovering over the George Washington Bridge (north of the WTC) when he reported a puff of smoke coming from the World Trade Center that he was going to go check out.  No indication, at this time, of the tragedy unfolding.  When I arrived at my office, the reporter was indicating that, apparently, a “small” plane had hit the World Trade Center.  Still, no great concern at this time.

As soon as I got up to my office, I received a phone call that changed everything.  You see, I am a disaster recovery, business continuity, emergency response professional – I help companies prepare to respond to and recover from business interruption incidents – i.e: disasters.  Because of contacts I had in the New York City Office of Emergency Management, I received one of the first phone calls indicating that a hijacked, commercial plane had crashed into the World Trade Center – much bigger and more significant than what I had heard on the radio just moments before.  Within minutes, the news was hitting the airwaves and a second plane was hitting the WTC.

Even though I had spent twenty years of my life helping companies prepare for the worse – as an individual, I was not prepared for this.

The first thing I did was what I call, “count fingers and toes”.  I called my employees (other consultants that were in the area of the WTC), clients in the area and friends I knew that worked in the area.  Most were accounted for.  One close friend was not.

We then had a handful of clients that we had to assist in getting their recovery sites up and functional – while they tried to account for and ensure the safety of their employees.  Although many large companies were prepared to recover technology and business processes in alternate locations – most were not prepared to manage a crisis of this magnitude.  Companies knew what to do hour 24 after a disaster; they knew where to send employees and where to recover their data center, but they did not know what to do hour 1 – 24 in managing a crisis with such severe impacts on their employees and place of business.

The events of 9/11 challenged the basic concepts of business continuity and emergency management planning and forever changed our cultural attitudes and behaviors (think about airport security).  The hard thing to appreciate is that the risk and threat was always there – we just were not aware they were there.  And, they are still here today.

I think that it is important to be prepared; but not live in fear.  Be ready for the worse, but don’t crawl into a hole.  And, never forget.  Once we forget – we are then susceptible to repeating our mistakes and, once again, being caught off guard. 

And, once we forget, those who perished and those who still live with the pain and loss are also forgotten and we owe it to them, never to let that happen.  So, Lee Adler, I still miss you today and will keep you forever in my thoughts.

On September 11th, I encourage all of you to take a moment in your day and remember those we lost and the fear we felt 12 years ago – I know I will.