A Bermudian woman working on the 20th floor of the doomed World Trade Center Number 7 Building was shaken, but glad to be alive after she ran more than 20 blocks trying to escape Tuesday's World Trade Centre attack.

Bermudian Robyn Semos, who works for the Hartford Insurance Company, said her office windows faced the Twin Towers and she physically felt the massive impact on the neighbouring building.

"We heard what sounded like an aeroplane, and then there was this huge `boom'... our building shook," said Ms Semos.

"Then we saw all this debris and smoke heading right toward our window, and everyone in the office ran under our desks, trying to get away from the windows, and just waited," she said. "At that point, we didn't know what it was. When we came out from under our desks, we saw that the tower was on fire.

"It's ironic to look back on it now, but everyone was relatively calm when they went to the elevators to leave the building. At that point we thought it was an accident, that maybe a plane had accidentally gone off course," she added.

"When we got outside the building, people kept saying `head north, head north away from the building'.

Ms Semos said she had gotten about one block away from the Number 7 building - which was just a couple of blocks away from the Twin Towers - when the second aeroplane hit.

"We looked above our heads and could see debris coming right at us. The debris was hitting our building, just 50 feet behind us.

"We just started running, and just kept running for about 20 blocks. We didn't look back, we just ran and ran."

The scene was one of total pandemonium, as a slew of panicked New Yorkers scrambled to escape danger - yet not really knowing what places were safe.

"By this time, we'd heard about the Pentagon, and knew it was a terrorist attack... we didn't want to go near the United Nations or Times Square or anywhere that was heavily populated," said Ms Semos.

"Unbelievably, we found a cab. A bunch of us got in and ended up at a work colleague's apartment in the upper East Side," she added.

"We all had cellphones, but they were down. That was the most frustrating thing - not being able to communicate with people. I kept saying `I have to call my mom, I have to call my mom' and I finally talked to her around noon."

Later that day, gathered around a television set, Ms Semos and the other victims watched a scene of horror unfold from their own pocket of safety as the Number 7 Building crumbled to the ground.

"It was surreal, it felt like it was a sick joke," she said. "Just knowing I was in that building at 8 a.m., having no idea how the day was going to end."

Eventually, the shocked survivors decided to make their way back to their own apartments in hopes that worried loved ones would be able to contact them. "I walked home at midnight, I wasn't scared or anything, there was not one car in the road," she said. "The city was dead silent. That was not a moment I could ever expect in my life, that this city could ever be silent."

Yesterday Ms Semos, who has lived in New York for the past six years, said rescue efforts continued and there was generally more activity in the city.

"I live on 96th Street, and I would estimate that about 50 military vehicles drove past (over the course of the day): military vans, police cars, state troopers, dump trucks. There are two battleships blocking the New York harbour, and there are a lot of military planes in the sky," she said. "It's fairly calm and I feel well protected now, but it's a scary reality and with all the military personnel, it feels quite like a war zone."

Ms Semos said she had no idea when daily life in New York might reach some semblance of normality, but she expected next week would be "very work-oriented", although she wants to make a return trip to Bermuda soon to see her family and friends and say `I love you'.

In the meantime, she said a few New York buses were expected to be running today, and many downtown businesses may have their midtown offices open.

"Everything (our office) had was destroyed. I think they're going to try to set us up at a temporary location in Long Island. It's going to be very busy, but I want to lay low for a few days and just appreciate that we are still here," she said.

Although the immediate danger seems to have passed, Ms Semos, said: "It's scarier to think what's going to happen after this. Is this the end of it? is New York safe? is there going to be a war?

"Everyone is upset that this could ever happen since the US is known as such a powerful force.

"But this shows that even such a powerful force isn't safe. It's an overwhelming feeling that no one is safe.

"As I was running up the street (escaping the debris), my first thought was `I want to go home (to Bermuda)'.

"Now it's been 24 hours and I don't want to run," she added.

Ms Semos admitted that she was still in a state of shock, but said she wanted to go downtown at some point "and see what is no longer there".

"I went to school downtown, I worked downtown, I used to work right off Wall Street, and I definitely want to go back," she said.

"There will be a little bit of closure seeing it again."