In the aftermath of Tuesday's devastating terrorist attacks, a glimpse of hope: Plucked from the landscape of the World Trade Center debris, a man who survived as the 80th story collapsed under his feet and wrapped him in a cocoon of crumbling steel and concrete as he fell to the ground below.

That survivor, John McLaughlin, represents the hope that people around the country —especially the families of those still buried— still hold onto a day after this nation's worst ever terrorist assault.

"They found him, they can find anybody," said Bryan Kemp, a volunteer who has been working since yesterday at the accident scene told Courttv.com Wednesday morning. "Everybody was ecstatic. They applauded and cheered when they carried him down the line."

McLaughlin was one of handful of people pulled alive from the rubble since rescue efforts began late Tuesday after it was save to re-enter the disaster zone.

The total loss of life still looms unknown, a morbid statistic waiting to emerge as the rubble is cleared. Tuesday night, more than 200 firefighters who had rushed to the horrific scene to save lives may have lost their own. Another several dozen police officers may have suffered the same fate.

Officials warned that the total human toll would be staggering.

"The numbers we're working on are in the thousands," said New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani. "The best estimate that we can make is that there will be a few thousand people left in each building."

At the Pentagon, the other site hit during the coordinated attack, the damage was more spelled out, even as the building continued to smolder. There, an estimated 100 lives were lost when another hijacked jet tore into one of the sides of the nation's center of defense.

But in New York, the feeling is still very much one of disaster. The damage is not been comprehended. Parts of the city are still locked down. "They say it's like Pearl Harbor, but this is worse," one bystander told Court TV near ground zero. "That was war and this is just people—mothers and fathers."

Help has come from all sides during the scramble to save lives. Thousands of New Yorkers rushed to give blood in the hours after the tragedy, backing up donation lines as much as five hours and forcing hospitals to turn away would-be donors.

Police forces from across the country sent personnel, equipment, and rescue teams — there are 18 altogether — into the city to help out. At the scene, a debris-strewn, ash-coated post-apocalypse, New York firefighters and police officers work side-by-side with rescue teams from New Jersey, Long Island, Connectcut, and even Puerto Rico.

The rescue efforts are compounded by the extent of the damage. "Everything is wet and covered with ash and debris," said Southfield, N.J. police officer Brian Iarrapino. You really have to be careful with everything you do."

Last night, 120 trucks bearing debris were sent from the scene, hauling away only a fraction of the wreckage. Mayor Giuliani said he expects the cleanup to continue for at least two or three weeks.

At St. Vincent's Hospital, the city's premiere level one trauma center, the scene was one of anticipation. A phalanx of hospital beds and wheelchairs stood ready on the curb as doctors and nurses dressed in green scrubs milled about, waiting for victims to roll in. But the flow of ambulances down the cleared off thouroughfare of Seventh Avenue was slow. At last count, the hospital had only admitted 403 patients, most of them during an initial rush yesterday after the two towers collapsed.

Meanwhile, efforts to identify those responsible for the attacks continued. An FBI official said the agency has all of its 56 field offices in the country working on the case. "The obvious thrust for us at this time is to identify the number and the individuals who were, in fact, hijackers," he said.

The primary focus is on contacting the families of the 266 passengers aboard the four hijacked planes, looking for information that might have been passed to them via cell phone before the crashes.

As lower Manhattan continues to dig out, the rest of the city struggles to reawaken from the chaos, to press on with everyday life. Mayor Giuliani was confident that most schools would convene Thursday, and that the markets would also reopen.

"We're going to rebuild," said Giuliani. "We're not only going to rebuild, we're going to come out of this stronger than before."

But the most focus is on any possible survivors, some of whom have been able to contact rescue officials from under the rubble using cell phones.

"This is a time for rescue, this is a time for communication, but it's also a time to grieve for those... who still might be lost," said Governor George Pataki. "America will get through this, we will not lose our freedom.