A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster

The chapter opens with descriptions from first-person narratives of survivors of 9/11 of the moments soon after two planes hit the World Trade Center in New York City. The evacuations that immediately followed were almost entirely orderly and self-organized. Volunteers spontaneously recruited boats to help move people away from southern Manhattan, and civilians aided each other in moving away from the area on foot. Solnit emphasizes the success and efficiency of these efforts in comparison to the work of under-prepared firefighters and military. Immediately afterwards, people swarmed the area to help, and donations poured in from near and far. Many reported a sudden closeness with those they escaped with.

Material contributions and volunteers immediately converged on the site of the fallen towers, increased by the intense, worldwide media coverage of the event. Charles Fritz has identified this phenomenon as convergence, when people move toward a disaster zone to donate their time and supplies as well as to find their loved ones, living or dead. Those who converged created their own tasks when there was not anything immediately obvious to do, such as singing songs and creating altars. Blood and food donations poured in from all over the country and the world—more than was necessary.