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When the first WTC bombing occurred my cousin Katy did a school report about it. Here are the questions she asked me and my responses.

1. WHAT FLOOR WERE YOU ON AND WHAT WERE YOU DOING?

At the time of the bombing I was on the 32nd floor of World Trade Center #1, which is the building with the large TV broadcasting antenna on top, and I was at my desk computer programming. Which was, I guess, a good thing because my company had offices on the 104th and 105th floors at that time.

2. WHAT DID YOU DO WHEN THE ELECTRICITY WENT OUT AND SMOKE WAS EVERYWHERE?

Because the bombing occurred during winter I took a scarf and wrapped it around my face so that I would not be breathing the smoke directly into my lungs. However, the smoke got so thick that we had to change from one stairwell to another so that we could see where we were going.

3. HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO GET OUT OF THE BUILDING?

Although some people were trying to take the elevators down, I was with a group of people who had enough sense to know that is the wrong thing to do during a possible fire condition. So we took the stairs, but as I said the smoke was getting so thick we had to worry about stepping into thin air, because we by this point we knew it was a bomb and the next step might had been a drop of quite a few floors.

4. DID YOU FEEL THE BUILDING SHAKE AT THE TIME OF THE EXPLOSION?

Oh yes, I was definitely rocked in the chair I was sitting in. Though the people I worked with on the 104th and 105th floors did not feel a thing.

5. WAS THIS YOUR MOST FRIGHTENING EXPERIENCE?

At the time I and the people around me were more concerned with getting out the building safely and making sure nobody were left behind. Later when I started seeing the pictures of the damage and when I needed to go back in to get things for my company, and saw some the damage first hand, I realized how many more people could have been killed. So yes, I would say this was the most frightening experience I've had, although I didn't know at the time.

6. DID YOU REALIZE WHAT HAPPENING AT FIRST?

No, around that time ConEd was having trouble with power transformers exploding, so the first thing I thought was that. Then I realized the power was still on, so that could not be the problem. So I thought that maybe a small plane hit the building. Then someone called out that they saw a flash of light outside, so we thought lightning struck the building. A few seconds later a co-worker who had been out to lunch called us on the phone told us about the bomb, he saw the ground floor raise up and collapse into itself.

7. DID THE SMOKE GET INTO YOUR OFFICE OR DID IT JUST STAY IN THE STAIRWELLS?

Because the office manager had the foresight to get everyone out quickly all we saw in the offices was some very light gray smoke. However, a few days later when I had to go back in, before the building re-opened you could see that the heavy thick black smoke had gotten everywhere, because there was black soot on everything.

8. OF COURSE EVERYONE WAS FRIGHTENED BUT WAS THERE MASS PANIC?

Not at all, I only saw one person who had panic, and even then her co-workers and friends where claming her down. In general, people move quickly and quietly to get out, but there was no shoving and some people were helping others to get out.

9. DID ANYONE PANIC AND TRY TO CLIMB OUT THE WINDOW?

Again I only saw one person panic, and she just did not want to move. However some people had thought if they broke the windows that they would get fresh air, but all that did was make the smoke get sucked into the rooms faster.

10. DID YOU NEED ASSISTANCE OR WERE YOU ABLE TO HELP SOMEONE ELSE?

I did not need assistance, nor was I able to help someone else. This was mainly because the people I worked with all kept claim, and got out quickly, if you call half an hour quickly