9/11: Hawke's Bay man watched Twin Towers fall and knew he had to move

Flames and smoke pour from the Pentagon on 9/11. AP Photo / Will Morris

It's been 20 years since the United States of America was rocked by terrorism. Three Hawke's Bay residents who were in the US talk to reporter Sahiban Hyde about how 9/11 changed the course of their lives.

Tom Belford realised immediately his home country wasn't safe any more.

Belford, who moved to Hawke's Bay in the aftermath, and is now a regional council candidate, witnessed the attacks and remembers them clear as day.

"I was on a train going from Washington DC to New York City, I made the trip to meet some clients in NYC," Belford said.

As the train got closer to its destination, the passengers realised something had "gone very wrong", he said.

"We could see the two towers burning, they were like giant flares in the skyline," Belford said.

"The whole train was dead silent, everyone was shocked."

Smoke rises from the burning twin towers of the World Trade Centre after hijacked planes crashed into the towers on 9/11. AP Photo / Richard Drew

The train went into a tunnel, and as it came out the towers were no longer there. They'd collapsed.

The attack on the towers claimed the lives of 2606 then or later of injuries.

"We got out into the street in Manhattan and everything was complete chaos ... pandemonium," Belford said.

"It was pretty traumatic to be on the scene. There was rubble everywhere.

"Emergency services were everywhere, there was so much smoke. Military response went full bore and not without reason.

"It was like a funeral procession, really, there was nothing there anymore. People were stunned into silence, shocked."

At the time, Belford and his family lived less than 10 minutes by car from the Pentagon in Washington DC.

Less than an hour after the Twin Towers were hit, a third plane destroyed the western face of the Pentagon - the giant headquarters of the US military just outside the nation's capital, where 125 people were killed.

"Washington went into military alert, roads were closed, bridges were blocked. The schools in Washington were put into lockdown," Belford said.

"We had a daughter going to a school there and we couldn't see her.

"The trains were closed off, and didn't reopen until the end of the day."

"We could see the two towers burning, they were like giant flares in the skyline": Tom Belford, HBRC candidate, recalls September 11. Photo / Supplied

Returning back home felt like walking into another Ground Zero, he said.

"Washington went into a 'fortress mentality'. We lived 10 minutes from the White House and the Pentagon, and there were anti-aircraft missiles, military everywhere," he said.

"From that point on I knew things would get worse.

"It became clear that life was going to change. I had less inclination to travel and meet clients."

9/11 became a "turning point".

"People got angry, fearful, suspicious of people not like them. The terror attacks had a corrosive effect of the underlying American psyche and it was unfortunate," Belford said.

"We decided to move because we knew things would never be the same again, and I am very happy with my decision."

'My cousin worked on one of the upper floors'

Havelock North resident Hal Josephson was in San Francisco at home with his six-year old son at the time of the attacks.

"My phone rang waking me at 5.55am and it was a mate of mine in NYC," he said.

"His first words were, "are you okay?" and then he said, "turn on your TV, New York City is being attacked".

Hal Josephson was in San Francisco when the terror attacks happened. Photo / Paul Taylor

Josephson turned on the TV in time to see a commercial airplane "plough" into one tower of the World Trade Centre, while the other tower appeared on fire.

"My first impression was that what I was seeing was some kind of TV stunt - that it simply couldn't be real.

"After a few minutes watching the news reporting, the fact that it was reality happening at that moment, started to sink in. And, then, my heart sank."

He called his family members to check on them and talked to his cousin.

"My cousin worked on one of the upper floors in the WTC," he said.

"His son was sick that day and he chose to not go to work. He felt horrible that he was spared while many of his office worker colleagues were not, then felt guilty because he felt thankful that he was not there."

Josephson said his cousin was broken up about it for "many" months and years to come.

"No one wanted to be that someone who found out that they knew one let alone more of the 3000 killed or 6000 injured," he said.

"My cousin knew dozens."

Josephson decided to make the move to NZ.

"I had worked on the private sector-led Sydney 2000 Economic Development initiative as their Silicon Valley liaison for business development. I met my Kiwi partner while in Auckland. She wanted to move away from the Big Smoke, and be with family here," he said.

"One trip and there was no question, Hawke's Bay was going to be and turned out to be our next and now current home."

Hastings resident Peter Burden remembers his time in San Diego at the time of the terror attacks. Photo / Warren Buckland

'There was silence'

Hastings resident Peter Burden was staying in Carlsbad, just north of San Diego with his wife Dot when the attacks happened.

They were there on holiday.

"We were staying with my Aunt Gwen and it was a mixture of shock and horror in the household, with my aunt thinking that one son and one grandson would immediately be conscripted into the army."

He said all government offices, courthouses, schools, shopping centres were closed, and the San Diego water supply was shut off.

"It was thought the water supply had been poisoned, major security was put on the water supply," he said.

"The fear was that San Diego would be the next target.

"Usually we could hear the constant drone of traffic from the freeway about a mile away, but on the morning of September 11 there was silence," he said.