My son lived in NYC at the time. It took 5 hours to get the news that he was fine...just stunned. For years, he said he still ducks when a plane flies overhead.
My nephew turned around at the next exit and went back home to NJ when he heard the news on the car radio.
Unfortunately, his family suffered anyway, as his son was in a classroom with an inexperienced teacher and she allowed the children to be shocked by the news. A classmate of my nephew’s son had a father who worked in the World Trade Center and the child was immediately traumatized. The father did die in the attack, and my grand-nephew never really got over the death of his friend’s father. He cried every time his father had to leave the house. Finally, he became a game addict and that helped.
Omar cannot relate to these things as she is an animal.