NEW YORK�They call it "Ground Zero," the 16-acre stretch of real estate in lower Manhattan, where once stood two 110-story buildings, known as the World Trade Center. The twin towers, which were not identical twins, were constructed in the late 1960s and dedicated in April 1973. What took years to build took only minutes to destroy, on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001.

And though the city tried to return to work Sept. 17, with Wall Street reopening after two minutes of silence and the singing of the National Anthem, the challenges remain. Transportation remains a chore, despite ferries running in lower Manhattan and rescue workers still hope to find some of the nearly 2,000 missing people alive. Some 300 city firefighters were still missing at Final Call presstime.

The Big Apple has received financial aid from the federal government and states, with groups around the country raising money they hope will help. For the first time, residents of Battery Park City, home to 9,000 people in 23 apartment buildings and 40,000 workers, several businesses in what was once the shadow of the twin towers, were allowed to pick up some belongings Sept. 17. That area has been evacuated.

"I was standing in front of the Century 21 store, about a block away, when it happened," recalled Anthony Mack, 49, saying he saw people jumping out of the World Trade Center buildings. "There was blood everywhere and body parts falling all around us. I was shocked�stunned and I couldn�t move�then the first building started coming down. The tower let out a roar, like a person in great pain and I still could not move, as if transfixed by the moment. By the time, I composed myself, I started running with everyone else, it was pandemonium," Mr. Mack recalled.

Eyewitnesses such as Anthony Mack tell a story of people being trampled, running from flying concrete dust and splintered glass. He recalled running past shoes, eyeglasses and briefcases�articles that had fallen from gaping holes in the towers, or been left behind by panic stricken people.

New Yorkers continue the arduous task of looking for loved ones.

Some subways, bridges and tunnels are closed. The downtown area still resembles a war zone, with abandoned cars and taxis standing idle, their windows blown out.

The white dust covered everything and the acrid smell of death enveloped a part of the city known for its prosperity and gaiety.

On any given workday more than 50,000 workers made their offices using the towers� 200 elevators. There were 80,000 daily visitors, according to the NYC Bureau of Tourism, shopping in the 70 stores and eating in its many restaurants.

The twin towers even had their own ZIP code, 10048. As night fell on day one, a crescent moon occasionally peeked through the billowing cloud of smoke, briefly illuminating the tired mass of rescue workers. Hospitals reported over 1,500 people had been treated. Fewer than 100 bodies had been found by Final Call presstime.

It would take months to remove the rubble and hundreds of volunteers, some from across the country, have journeyed to the city, often sleeping in cars, begging to do anything that could help.

There is reportedly enough concrete strewn along lower Manhattan streets to build a five-foot-wide sidewalk from New York City to Washington, D.C. The remnants of 14 acres of glass and steel have placed themselves at the doorways of shoe stores and fast food restaurants.

"It�s hell in there," Damond Parkes, a security guard from Astoria, Queens told The Final Call. He walked wearily towards the subway, shovel in hand, covered in white dust. "I could not sit back and not doing anything. You don�t realize how bad it is until you are there. I want the people who did this punished," he said emphatically.

By the evening of Sept. 17, an estimated 1.25 million tons of debris had been removed.

Kim Wallace, 27, from Newark, and Pierre Waith, 22, from Harlem stood at the corner of East Houston and 6th Avenue, waving American flags and applauding tired rescue workers.

"I feel vulnerable and I don�t like this feeling. I could see the twin towers from where I live and now they are gone," Ms. Wallace said. "The World Trade Center belonged to all of us. This is bigger than Black or white," Mr. Waith told The Final Call. But both still felt that little attention was paid to the Blacks buried beneath the rubble.

The agony gripping New Yorkers remains not knowing who had made it out. Flyers are all over lower Manhattan. People would stop any passer-by. "Have you seen this person?" they ask. Flyers and posters are mounted on the sides of mail trucks, buses, light posts and even news trucks.

A "Wall of Prayer" set up outside of Bellevue Hospital, which serves as a morgue and treatment center

There were hundreds of flyers with photographs and names such as Mohammed, Zeng, Micciulli, Caldwell, Nunez and Steinman.

Terrie Williams, a well-known publicist and author, came to Bellevue to see if anyone knew what had happened to her 14-year old son�s mentor. When she saw the flyer with the photo of Kenneth Caldwell, an account manager, who worked at the World Trade Center, she collapsed into tears, her young daughter by her side.

Volunteers helped her to a chair. "I was two blocks away from there when the buildings fell," she said. My son is devastated, Ms. Williams added.

"I haven�t given up hope. My daughter is still alive. I truly believe this to be true," Enrique Vidal told The Final Call. His daughter was attending a conference at the famous Windows of the World Restaurant, on the 103 floor of the World Trade Center. He said the family last spoke to her on Sept. 11, at 8:55 a.m.

Also missing from the Windows of the World were cooks Jose and Enrique Gomez, whose nephews Andre Gomez and Arjelis Gomez came to Bellevue Hospital to see if there was any news.

"We are shocked and angry with those who did this to our family. I know that I will not be able to meet with President George Bush, when he visits. I want him to know that our family supports anything that he wants to do," Andre Gomez, 18, said. Mr. Bush stopped at Ground Zero on Sept. 14

"It has finally hit home," Dr. Lorenzo Carlisle, head of the Oakland-based Carlisle Ministry. Dr. Carlisle was attending a conference in New York and with airports closed couldn�t get home.

"I am here to help people in their time of need. There is a lot of pain and a lot of questions to be answered. I do not know why God has me standing outside of this hospital, but I realize all we can do right now is pray," Dr. Carlisle said.

Mayor Rudolph Guiliani�s office of Emergency Management reported that 159 bodies had been recovered, 4,700 people were still missing as of Sept. 15. The Red Cross reported that 2,500 people called to volunteer during the first 12-hours after the collapse of the twin towers. In two days, the Red Cross reported serving 15,000 meals and 50,000 snacks to rescue workers. There are 500 mental health professionals on duty to help people deal with their grief. on the first day 1.5 million people donated blood. Over 1,400 National Guardsmen have been detailed to rescue work and manning security posts, while checkpoints dot city blocks and heavily armed officers warily walk their posts.