9/11: From Ground Zero

New York City opens up its Ground Zero Memorial to the public on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Centre and exploded at 9:03 a.m. on September 11, 2001. The crash of two airliners hijacked by terrorists loyal to al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and subsequent collapse of the twin towers killed some 2,800 people.

A decade later Osama bin Laden is dead.

9/11 and its after-effects defined George W. Bush's presidency, while US President Barack Obama will go down in American history as the president who hunted down bin Laden. Both events are vividly etched into public memory.

Here's a look at the site of one of the worst terrorist attacks on American soil and what followed – from rescue efforts to the present-day memorial. (AFP Photo)

In this Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 file photo, Chief of Staff Andrew Card whispers in George W Bush's ear that 'America is under attack' during a visit to the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. (AP Photo)

This 11 September, 2001 file photo shows smoke billowing after the first of the two towers of the World Trade Centre collapsed in New York City. Two planes crashed into the twin towers of the Centre. Another plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, DC and a fourth one crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. (AFP Photo)

As the horror unfolded, people were seen running into the streets, staring at the burning towers, making frantic calls on their cellphones. (AFP Photo)

US President George W. Bush (C) and US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (L) tour the impact area (rear) at the Pentagon on September 12, 2001. (AFP Photo)

An American flag flies in the foreground as one of the twin towers at the World Trade Center burns in the background on September 11, 2001 in New York. (AFP Photo)

This picture shows the aftermath of 9/11. Dump trucks and cranes worked overtime to clear wreckage amounting to hundreds of thousands of tonnes.(AFP Photo)

Debris is cleared from the still smouldering rubble of the terror destroyed World Trade Centre on October 12, 2001 in New York. (AFP Photo)

Rescue workers survey the damage. (AFP Photo)

The rubble of the World Trade Centre smoulders shortly after the attacks. (AFP Photo)

In this photo obtained on September 18, 2001 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), firefighters and Urban Search and Rescue workers battle smoldering fires as they search for survivors at the ruins of the World Trade Centre. (AFP Photo)

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its National Geodetic Survey released a 3-D image of lower Manhattan, New York, and the ground zero of the World Trade Centre (WTC).

The NOAA's aircraft flew several missions over the WTC after the events of September 11 to aid in the recovery efforts. NOAA's Citation jet mapped ground zero using aerial photography and Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology. The data collected by the LIDAR equipment helped to produce 3-D images of the site where crews continue their recovery and cleanup efforts.(AFP Photo)

This photo released on September 17, 2001 by the New York City Office of Emergency Management shows smoke rising from the ruins of the World Trade Centre in lower Manhattan. (AFP Photo)

Construction workers lower the September 11 cross by crane into a subterranean section of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum on July 23, 2011 in New York City.

The cross is an intersecting steel beam discovered in the World Trade Center rubble which served as a symbol of spiritual recovery in the aftermath of 9/11. (AFP Photo)

An eerie glow hangs over the 9/11 memorial at dusk.(AFP Photo)

The memorial footprints of the twin towers are seen on August 12, 2011 in New York City.(AFP Photo)

A man walks past an illuminated model of the building plan for Ground Zero at 7, World Trade Centre in New York.(AP Photo)

A man walks past a memorial pool at ground zero in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011. (AP Photo)

Construction worker sets up a Sept 11 memorial sign outside Ground Zero in New York on September 7, 2011. (AP Photo)

Construction continues at ground zero in New York on Sept. 7, 2011. (AP Photo)

Onlookers and tourists view construction at the World Trade Centre site from a viewing area at the World Financial Centre on June 20, 2011 in New York City. (AFP Photo)

A decade after the Twin Towers were razed to the ground in the 9/11 attacks, an altered Ground Zero will be unveiled to the public, with waterfalls, reflecting pools and hundreds of trees at the site honouring the memory of the nearly 3000 victims of the terror strike.

The '9/11 Memorial' is located at the site of the former World Trade Centre complex in lower Manhattan and occupies approximately half of the 16-acre area.

This picture from February 2011 shows the '1 World Centre', then under construction, which now stands 1,776 tall.

Besides the 104-storey tower, a 40-storey '4 World Trade Centre' and '7 World Trade Centre' have been constructed at the site. The memorial has twin reflecting pools, each nearly an acre in size, and feature the largest manmade waterfalls in North America.

Inscribed on bronze panels edging the pools are the names of every person who died in the 2001 attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and the Pentagon as well as the six people killed in the February 1993 World Trade Centre bombing.

President Barack Obama (C) carries a wreath with New York Police Department officer Stephanie Moses (L) and a firefighter (R) during a wreath laying ceremony at Ground Zero after Osama bin Laden was killed on May 5, 2011 in New York City. Obama also visited a New York Fire Department firehouse and met with families of victims of the terrorist attack during his visit to New York. Obama took a defiant message to the New York epicenter of the 9/11 attacks Thursday, warning that Osama bin Laden's death proved America will never fail to bring terrorists to "justice." (AFP Photo)

A tribute to those who lost their lives on 9/11.(AFP Photo)