New York City’s advanced technological edge that is the pride of this financial, communication and media capital proved no match for Hurricane Sandy and the forces of nature. The storm victims are almost speechless, shaken by storm’s ferocity and feeble response on every level by the authorities. Six months after the storm New Yorkers are still in the dark about their future. The government has taken the responsibility for a situation that is the moral equivalent of war. It is doubtful that the hurricane victims, the affected cities and States will be ready for the next hurricane season.
What will the construction industry, architects and general contractors learn from the rubble and ashes remaining after public, commercial and residential properties have been obliterated by the winds, fires and floods? One handy man who has not been on the ground in the affected areas estimated a house could be rebuilt in one month. The pace of things since October 2012 suggest it will take much longer to rebuild these failed communities.
The federal government's current plan to compensate victims of Hurricane Sandy allocates funds for Long Island residents hoping to repair their homes, while forgetting to reimburse those affected within New York City limits.
The New York City government was given $1.8 billion in federal grants but, because of federal restrictions, private home and business owners whose properties were damaged by the October 2012 storm can only be given financial aid for future projects, not cash for repairs. Long Island, which received $1.7 billion, is not required to adhere to the same standard.
In a letter to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, New York Senator Chuck Schumer called for common sense in distributing the federal funds.
"There needs to be consistency between New York City and the New York State's action plans to ensure that all homeowners in New York can access the same type of assistance," he wrote. "A homeowner in Rockaway Beach will not be eligible for the same benefit that a homeowner in Long Beach, just 10 miles away, will be able to access."
A spokeswoman for the city told the New York Daily News that the current plans are only preliminary, which is cause for a cautious optimism among the many New Yorkers who were without flood insurance when the storm hit. This disbursement is just the first part of a $50 billion package that was reluctantly approved by Congress.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced in February that $720 million would be spent on rebuilding destroyed homes, $185 million on investing in struggling businesses and another $140 million on improving still-damaged infrastructure, although it’s unclear if the mayor's plan accounted for the language of the federal grant.
At the end of March it was announced that hundreds of people still displaced from their homes because of Sandy would be moving from hotels into New York apartments paid for by the federal government. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said it would pay rent for the apartments and all other administrative costs. FEMA has spent more than $60 million on the program, according to the Wall Street Journal, while the city has spent $25 million.
If your community has dumpsters to dive into that's better than having everything you own under several feet of sea water or washed out to sea or turned to cinders. A dumpster with edible garbage means there is food that can be donated before it has turned into garbage if someone cares enough.
Not too cruel. Hoarded storable food and water is of little use if high water submerges them under 10 feet of water, when the ocean surf reclaims all of your possessions that disappear beneath the waves, along with any emergency food that had been stored for months. People who could find refuge among friends residing far away from flooded, powerless areas fared better than those who were living in cold, soggy homes, without heat and power, in essence without shelter but having canned goods and bottled water they couldn’t all take with them.
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