INTRODUCTION: 9.11 AS DISASTER: ON WORST CASES, TERRORISM, AND CATASTROPHE

Abstract

Things will never be the same, some say, because of 9.11. We feel more vulnerable, more threatened, more at risk. It was the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, goes the refrain. It was dramatic beyond our worst nightmares. Like millions of others, I watched the events of that lovely morning unfold on television. When the South Tower fell for a few seconds I could not see it collapsing. My blindness wasn’t because of the smoke and dust. It was a cognitive blindness. I could not believe my eyes and so, somehow, my mind denied my brain the truth of the moment.

Citation

Clarke, L. (2003), "INTRODUCTION: 9.11 AS DISASTER: ON WORST CASES, TERRORISM, AND CATASTROPHE", Clarke, L. (Ed.) Terrorism and Disaster: New Threats, New Ideas (Research in Social Problems and Public Policy, Vol. 11), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0196-1152(03)11001-0