One of the barricaded streets in the disaster area

Wednesday there was a riot in midtown Manhattan over an exploded steam pipe. 26 people were wounded and one person was killed because of the explosion. Mud was flying hundreds of metres in the air and smoke covered the buildings in the neigborhood. A classmate of mine told me people were running in the streets in fear of another terrorist act.

The police confirmed there was no terrorism involved. I didn´t notice anything of the explosion. That day there was a lot of rain so from the window at the agency you couldn´t see the difference between the clouds and the smoke.

New York has almost 20 million inhabitants, so you must be very unlucky if you´re exactly the one who's a victim in this accident. I think the chance to get shot in this city is a lot bigger. Nevertheless, a lot of people from school were concerned. We got an e-mail from Miami in which they asked us if we're allright. And a classmate of mine called me to hear if I was still alive. Quite some difference with Alkmaar, where there was a shooting at the trainstation and afterwards everybody just thought: 'when is our train leaving?'.

Today I went to the disaster area to make some pictures. Although nobody was allowed in the area, it was already impressive to see how much police, ambulances and firemen were on the streets. There seems to be always something happening in this city. I've got a pretty good idea that when I go back to Holland after 2 months, New York is going to leave a long lasting impression.