On Sept. 11 people walking home on the Queensborough Bridge looked back at the site of the World Trade Center and pondered their future. Tribune Photo By Ira Cohen

On that awful September day in 2001 we learned firsthand just how vulnerable we were to an attack. Without any idea as to what to do in this kind of emergency, people headed home to Queens over the Queensborough Bridge, looking back at the rising plume, and pondering the beginning of a new era that had dawned with the destruction of the World Trade Center and its mind-blowing loss of life.

In the ensuing years the city has worked - sometimes in the background, other times in plain view - to formulate plans for how to deal with any number of citywide emergencies.

And so have we all. Nobody wants to be caught unprepared again. Not like we were on Sept. 11, and surely not like other parts of the world have been in some recent natural disasters.

With that in mind, we offer the following pages to provide an indispensable guide to survival for whatever we may have to deal with. From the storm surge of a hurricane to identity theft to a potential terror attack, this guide will help prepare you for whatever man or nature creates.

And we will be ready next time.

Editors Note : Living in the Crosshairs

Natural Disasters | Terror Threats | Techo-Castrope
Water Woes | Localized Problems | Personal Crisis

We Are Ready

The Queensborough Bridge, the only way out of Manhattan for Queens residents Sept. 11, burned last week but reopened the next day. Tribune Photo By Ira Cohen

The best use of this guide, as far as we are concerned, is to never have to use it. If it sat around getting dusty, eventually rotting away, nothing would make us happier.

But the simple truth is that we must be prepared for the eventualities we fear. Whether it is knowing what to do when a massive blaze shuts down the Queensborough Bridge or how to best prepare yourself for a hurricane barreling up the coast, it’s all in here.

Keep this guide, read it, refer back to it. Give copies to your friends and loved ones.

After all, if we hope for the best but prepare for the worst, the outcome can only be better than if we did nothing at all.

Hang tight. We’ll get through this together.

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