Approximately 25,000 children lived or studied in the vicinity of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001, when two planes hijacked by terrorists struck and brought down the Twin Towers. The attack caused the death of nearly three thousand people and deeply affected the city.
The children who were near the site were exposed to an extreme traumatic experience, witnessing the destruction and chaos that followed. Many lost family members, friends or acquaintances in the attack, while others were forced to flee their homes and schools in an area normally bustling with activity in Manhattan.
A new study will now thoroughly evaluate the physical and psychological effects that this exposure to the terrorist attack may have caused in these children over the years. The researchers intend to better understand the long-term impact on the youngest survivors.
This research work comes more than two decades after the attacks and aims to document the lasting consequences that September 11 had on the youngest generation at the time, many of whom are now young adults.
