Wednesday, February 6, 2013
100 days since Sandy
2400 hours, 144000 minutes, or 8.64e+6 seconds; no matter how one says it – today marks the 100th day since Hurricane Sandy devastated the East Coast. Some people have already forgotten some wish they could and no matter how you personally were impacted you can acknowledge that the world will never be the same. This of course does not just apply to Sandy but natural disasters all over the world. I am observing the shift that occurs after these horrible events, focusing mainly on the recovery from Sandy in terms of economics, social and political.
Everyone’s experience during Sandy was different. It was one of the most out of body experiences to see the NY city skyline dark, if there was going to be a zombie apocalypse or the world was going to end I thought it was then. Let me give some background so you can understand my point of view. Personally, I am from Maryland so I went back to my roommate’s house mainly because of my Mother’s wishes (I perhaps like many others initially underestimated the force that Sandy would hit land with). My roommate’s house lost power after sixteen hours of the initial storm hitting and then lived without power till we were asked back to school to play field hockey. We finished number one in the conference however because of the state of emergency, we could not host E8.
Now, I am sure I sound like a stuck up princess, my experience is nothing compared to that of some of my teammates and of course others who are still homeless and have lost their businesses and way of life. My coach lost her apartment, my one teammate went home only to sit in her house and watch the water level creep up to her door. The same teammate’s family business got ruined but is considered “lucky” that the building is still mostly intact.
Today, the Federal Government is to release the first installment of the 51 billion dollars of Hurricane Sandy Aid. A concern that I have, is the fact that how / who decides who gets the money or where will the money get invested to. Then linking the social into this, if media had the pull and strength that it has today, would victims of Katrina be better off or is the quantity of aid have to do with the fact that the areas that got hit the worse are also one of the wealthier regions on the East Coast?
So 100 days are in the past and in 100 days Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer will be here. The areas that got hit, a mass amount of revenue is from tourist so the push to rebuild as the threat of the area being more devastated without the additional economy from tourist looms overhead. This was seen with the importance of getting the PATH back to normal. My questions for the future are: Are we as future leaders, engineers will we develop stronger buildings for coming natural disasters? Are we going to make more efficient policies? With technology and scientific developments stem from this? If there anyway of protecting people and property or will we just relay on the media and kindness of others? I don’t have the answers to these questions just wondering what kind of impact we will have on the, oh I don’t know, next 100 months?
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/02/100_days_after_hurricane_sandy.html
on that website is a slideshow of pictures, I didn't feel that it was needed to post all of them, so reader's choice.
- Gela Rose
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think this is a great article. I live 10 minutes from Seaside Heights and have been on the island since I was not even a year old. I recently went over to Seaside to get a look at the damage and check up on my job. Not only is it heartbreaking but it raises so many questions in your head about what will happen next. I have heard so much talk of tourists who own oceanfront houses refusing to build the dunes up because they don't want to "lose their view". Many other people simply do not have the money to build their houses up on pilings. I think we have the technology and ideas to prevent future damage, but right now it all comes down to money. Many people are struggling and can't afford to build to the new standards. Aside from money is ignorance. If the dunes are not built by the private home owners, future flooding will not only destroy their homes but the homes of people on their street.
ReplyDeleteJeez, 100 days? Wow, I hate to use the cliche, but time does fly. It is interesting that the money is going to begin being shelled out now, and as you stated, to where and to whom become big concerns. Obviously (or hopefully), some serious thought is going into this decision, and it will be interesting to see whether places such as Seaside Heights receive aid to rebuild what is essentially their economy, or if money is going to be restricted to residential areas and such. Of course, everyone'll get some aid, but the numbers after it is given will definitely receive protest from someone. You can't please everyone, but hopefully the Government can please more than they did with their "lackluster" efforts during Hurricane Katrina. To your questions, I think it'd be great to think others will just help others and that could be the end of it, but I think the only effective answer is to "get it right" construction-wise in the future. Tough question. Good response.
ReplyDelete