Reporting on September 11 terror attacks

0:00Throughout the program this morning we've been marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Lucas Alpert is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist in the US. He covered the recovery efforts at ground zero following September 11th. He joined me a short time ago. Can you tell me what it was like when you first saw the site of the former twin towers for yourself up close? What was going through your mind? I mean it was really hard to fathom what had happened. I came upon the scene sometime after the fact and it was just such a level of debris and chaos. It was really hard to make out because it's sort of in between a bunch of other buildings and you didn't really get a clear sight. Look at how big the whole thing was. I had a vantage point

1:01you know I worked for the Associated Press at the time and they had gotten a hold of a apartment that overlooked the site. This was for the photographers and I went up there and looked at it later and you really got a full view of the site. It was really hard to describe. I can't really just was just rubble and debris and metal and concrete just sticking out at wild angles. That's the only way I can kind of picture it in my mind you know. Sometimes as a journalist arriving at scenes that are almost too big to comprehend it's the very small things or the very specific things that stay with you. What did you see on that first day? The one thing I remember very clearly was the smell. If I ever smell anything even like that at this kind of electrical fire or kind of burning, accurate smell about that sticks with me to this day. Lucas when you were initially assigned as a reporter to come cover some of the recovery efforts. Were there any thoughts in your mind at that

2:03time that this might have long term health consequences for you? No not at all. I mean I was in my 20s I was a young reporter you don't really think much about your mortality at that stage in your life for one. I was there on a big story. You were just focused in on that. I was aware that the air was bad. It just smelled bad. It was probably not good for me. But it never occurred to me that decades later this is going to catch up to me in some way. In fact when it did catch up to me I didn't make the connection for quite some time after that. What effect did it have on your health? What happened for you Lucas? Well in 2015 I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and at that time I again did not make the connection to 9.11. I just thought well people get cancer you know this just happened to me. It was only in 2019 so four years later and 18 years after the fact that my colleague

3:06who I had worked with at the AP at ground zero he contacted me and said you know I had developed thyroid cancer. I'm going to apply to the World Trade Center Health Program and I need somebody who was convalged that I was there to write an affidavit would you do that? And I said fine I'm happy to do that. I sympathize I've had thyroid cancer too. And even saying that I didn't like connect it in my mind. And when he wrote back to me he said I don't think this is a coincidence and that's when the sort of the light went off in my head I say you're probably right. And he connected me with the law firm that he was working with to make his application and when I told them my situation they were just immediately like you absolutely meet the criteria for this program and you know like this won't be a difficult application so I you know follow through with that. This week thousands of documents have finally been released revealing what New York City officials knew about the dangers of air quality around ground zero. What's that meant for you?

4:09The documents reinforce I think largely what was known that the air was bad it was worse than what officials kind of let on on the early stages. You know that there was high level of toxins in the air. I mean in the the health program the number of embrollies I think is a pretty good indicator of what we're you know what the impact of that was but to me the documents are not some searing indictment of you know the city was lying or the officials were lying I think it's it is great context for the bigger picture which was at the time the officials perhaps you know underplayed certain findings played up others that you know kind of suggested that things were better than than they were and maybe didn't fully understand the full scope of what's in there and I think a full study of those documents will probably reveal a picture a little bit more nuance than just hey they were lying. Where are your thoughts Lucas so 25 years on as we prepare to mark

5:10this anniversary? I was young when this happened I'm not so young now I mean I'm grateful that I'm here you know I think that's you know to put it in stark context you know I got sick but I got sick with something that was eminently treatable and I've been treated and the health program has been a great help to me and to a lot of people and you know obviously my situation is far better than the people who died that day and I always think about that and you know and a lot of people have gotten far sicker than me so you know not not one anniversary feels the same as the last you know. Lucas thank you very much for being my guest this morning I really appreciate it. Yeah thank you for having me.