Stardate 20010921.0826 (On Screen): Fairly soon, a decision is going to have to be made that there is no more hope of finding survivors in the rubble left over from the WTC collapse. No survivors have been found in a week, but as long as the possibility exists that there may be people alive, the effort of removing rubble has to be careful and slow to avoid setting off a collapse that might kill someone still in there. Once we accept that everyone is dead, they can start using much more efficient techniques for removing the debris (which are also much more safe for the people working on it). The reason that this is important is that though there is no-one left alive in there, there is a quite a mass (I know this is hard to say but it's true) of rotting flesh mixed in with the debris, and that is a non-trivial health issue. It may begin to imperil the living; it could set off a plague. It's got to be cleaned up. I do not envy the politician (probably Mayor Giuliani) who has to make and announce that decision, but it's probably going to happen in the next day or two. After 10 days, there is no longer any chance that there's anyone left alive in there. Giuliani has been edging towards this with press releases trying gently to dampen hope; it's not cruelty, it's just reality. They
are all dead. No-one likes that, but pretending that it isn't true won't change it.
(discuss)
