Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
5 Facts about the 9/11 aftermath
5 Facts about the 9/11 aftermath
Jan 16, 2026 2:48 PM

Today marks the 16th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack ever on American soil. Here are five facts you should know about what happened in the aftermath of the events on September 11, 2001:

1. It took 99 days—until December 19, 2001—for thefires at Ground Zeroto be extinguished.Cleanup at Ground Zero wasn’t pleted until May 30, 2002. It took 3.1 million hours of labor to clean up 1.8 million tons of debris at a total cost of cleanup of $750 million.

2.There were 20 people pulled from the rubble in the two days after the attack. On the day following the attacks, 11 people were rescued from the wreckage, including six firefighters and three police officers. Two Port Authority police officers were also rescued after spending nearly 24 hours beneath 30 feet of rubble.

3.In 2010, Congress created theWTC Health Programtoprovidemedical monitoring and treatment for emergency responders, recovery, and cleanup workers, and volunteers who helped after the terrorist attacks.As of2015, the number ofGround Zero responders and others afflicted with 9/11-linked cancers has hit 3,700. Those suffering cancers certified by the WTC Health Programinclude 1,100 members of the New York fire department,2,134 police and first responders, and 467 survivors such as downtown workers and residents. Many have more than one type of cancer.

4.Most of the steel from the World Trade Center wreckage was sent to New Jersey salvage yards where it was broken down and sent all over the world for reuse. Nearly 350,000 tons of the steel was sent to be reused in small and large scale tributes, including 7.5 tons for use in the navy battleshipUSS New York.

5. On September 13 a worker at the site, Frank Silecchia, discovered a 20-foot cross of two steel beams amongst the debris. The beams were dubbed the “Ground Zero Cross” and became a spiritual symbol for families of the victims and workers who cleaned up the debris.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Video: Rev. Robert A. Sirico Interviewed on Argentinian Television – Poverty, Politics, and Pope Francis
Acton Institute President and Co-Founder Rev. Robert A. Sirico was in Argentina last week for Acton’s conference in Buenos Aires on Christianity and the Foundations of a Free Society, which is part of a series of Acton conferences being held around the world on the relationship between religious and economic freedom. While he was there, he was interviewed on Infobae.tvand spoke about the problems of poverty that Argentina is struggling with, and also addressed the relationship between Pope Francis and...
Rev. Sirico Interview in Buenos Aires: A Society with Lower Taxes is More Prosperous
While in Argentina for Acton Institute’s March 18 “Christianity and the Foundations of a Free Society” seminar, President and Co-Founder Rev. Robert A. Sirico conducted a wide ranging interview with La Nación, the country’s leading conservative newspaper. For more on the event, jointly sponsored with Instituto Acton Argentina, go here. What follows is an English translation of the interview. The original version, titled “Una sociedad con bajos impuestos es más próspera” in Spanish, may be found here. La Nación: Why...
A Hopeful Vision for Stewardship: Integrating Ecological Concerns and Economic Flourishing
Being a follower of Jesus includes a hopeful vision of the future. In the fullness of the kingdom of God, we will live on a new earth as embodied humans, worshiping and working, married to Christ and in fellowship with sisters and brothers from all nations (Rev. 21-22). There will be no more war, perfect justice, a restored ecology and each person will steward gifts and responsibilities consistent with his or her created design and fidelity during this present age...
Lessons on Work and Civilization from ‘Katy and the Big Snow’
“No work? Then nothing else either. Culture and civilization don’t just happen. They are made to happen and to keep happening — by God the Holy Spirit, through our work.” –Lester DeKoster As we beginto discover God’s design and purpose for our work, there there’s a temptation to elevatecertain jobsor careers aboveothers, and attempt to inject our workwith meaning from the outside. Yet as long as we are serving our neighbors faithfully, productively, ethically, and inobedience to God’s will, the...
The Loneliness of the Fortunate
“Rembrandt The Hundred Guilder Print” by Rembrandt – www.rijksmuseum.nl: Home: Info. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. “No, those who labor and are heavy-laden do not all look the way Rembrandt drew them in his ‘Hundred Guilder’ picture—poverty-stricken, miserable, sick, leprous, ragged, with worn, furrowed faces. They are also found concealed behind happy-looking, youthful faces and brilliantly successful lives. There are people who feel utterly forsaken in the midst of high society, to whom everything in their lives seems...
Radio Free Acton: Gene Veith on Reformation and Vocation
A few weeks back, Acton ed Gene Edward Veith to the Mark Murray Auditorium as part of the 2015 Acton Lecture Series. This week, I had the opportunity to talk with Veith for this edition of Radio Free Acton. We discuss the influence of the Protestant Reformation on the development of capitalism, Luther’s beliefs on vocation, and how young people can discern their vocations as they contemplate their futures. You can listen to the podcast via the audio player below;...
In Aleppo, Syria’s Christians See Assad Regime as Last Hope for Survival
A columnist for Al-Monitor who writes under the pseudonym Edward Dark visited Siryan Adeemeh, or Old Siryan, an elevated area in the regime-controlled west of Aleppo, the largest city in Syria. Dark wanted to “gauge the sentiment” of this area, which he describes as a working-class neighborhood home to Christian Arabs of several denominations and also inhabited by a sizable Muslim and Kurdish population. “It’s one of the few areas of Aleppo where churches outnumber mosques, munal relations had always...
Analysis: Russia’s Orthodox Soft Power
For us the rebirth of Russia is inextricably tied, first of all, with spiritual rebirth … and if Russia is the largest Orthodox power [pravoslavnaya dershava], then Greece and Athos are its source. —Vladimir Putin during a state visit to Mount Athos, September 2005. Writing for the Carnegie Council, Nicolai N. Petro says that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “call for greater respect for traditional cultural and religious identities was either missed or ignored in the West. One reason, I suspect,...
Corruption And Bribery: The Cost Of Health Care In Central And Eastern Europe
It is no secret that rule of law in places like Slovakia is weak. Corruption, pay-offs, bribes and twisted use of power often pass for “rule of law.” However, this problem has infected health care as well, which means those who are able to bribe the doctor or health care worker is the one who will get the care. The Economist describes Communist-era corruption as a holdover infesting much of central and eastern Europe, and not just in health care....
The Fortunate Son’s Secret to Success
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no senator’s son, son It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate one, no “Fortunate Son” – Creedence Clearwater Revival What do Al Gore, George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, Barry Bonds, Peyton and Eli Manning, Aage Bohrs, and Michael Douglas all have mon? Each of them reached the same level of success as their fathers in a petitive field. We like to think that the U.S. is a meritocracy, a...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved