With the assistance of FEMA, response and recovery efforts are well underway in New Jersey and New York City. The bad news is, a Nor’easter is expected on Wednesday, 8 November. Powerpoint presentation courtesy of Dr Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction

1. POST-SANDY RESPONSE AND
RECOVERY
OCTOBER 30 – NOVEMBER ??, 2012

2. MORNING OF OCT. 30
NEW YORK CITY ON LOCK
DOWN
ROADS CLOSED
TUNNELS CLOSED
SUBWAY, TRAINS, AND AIRPORTS CLOSED
WIDE-SPREAD POWER OUTAGES
HIGH VOLUME OF 911 CALLS THAT CAN’T BE
ANSWERED EFFICIENTLY
STOCK EXCHANGES CLOSED
SCHOOLS CLOSED

3. FLOODING IN BROOKLYN

4. MORNING OF OCT. 30 :
NEW JERSEY FLOODED
NO PART OF NEW JERSEY WAS
ABLE TO ESCAPE THE
EXCEPTIONAL AND UNTHINKABLE
FLOODING FROM SANDY’S SURGE

5. HOUSES IN RUINS: SEASIDE
HEIGHTS, NEW JERSEY

6. OCT. 30
The President ordered FEMA
to organize Federal
assistance under standing
legislation (the Stafford Act)

7. HELP FROM EVERYWHERE
BEGINS
• Millions of $ donated by strangers.
• American Red Cross providing food,
water, medicine, and temporary shelter.
• Samaritan’s Purse (just one example)
providing food, water, counseling, and
assistance in removal of mud and mould
from flooded homes.
• Utility crews from nearby states coming
to help restore power and services.

8. VOLUNTEERS CLEANING UP
IN QUEENS, NEW YORK

9. POST-SANDY PROBLEMS IN
CARIBBEAN AND BAHAMAS
• Sandy has come and gone, but serious
response and recovery problems of
many kinds linger on in the Caribbean
and the Bahamas.
• The threat of cholera in Haiti, already
hit in 2010 and 2011 by an earthquake
and a hurricane, is but one example.

10. THE INITIAL CONDITIONS IN
NY AND NJ WERE GRIM
• Widespread power outages
• People with little or no food stranded
in homes that are flooded and cold
because of the power outages and
change in the weather.
• Standing water and debris everywhere.
• Burned-out areas in Breezy Point,
Queens Borough, NY

11. A DARK NEW YORK CITY

12. BURNED-OUT AREA, QUEENS
BOROUGH, NEW YORK

13. NEW JERSEY: ATLANTIC
CITY UNDER WATER

14. HOBOKEN NEW JERSEY:
TAXIS UNDER WATER

15. UNUSUAL DEBRIS: BOAT ON
METRO NORTH’S TRACKS IN NY

16. THE INITIAL CONDITIONS IN
NY AND NJ WERE GRIM
• Salt water in tunnels, subways, and
homes (Note: Salt water is a conductor)
that could burn when the electricity is
restored to homes and businesses).
• Additional dead bodies being
discovered.

17. FLOODED CAREY TUNNEL, NY
(AKA BROOKLYN BATTERY)

18. SEVENTY-TWO DEATHS
ALONG EASTERN
SEABOARD
(as of NOV. 3)
Preliminary Loss Estimate:
$50 Billion

19. DEBRIS IN NEW JERSEY

20. THE INITIAL CONDITIONS
WERE GRIM (continued)
• Millions are weary and discouraged
• Inadequate communication is the norm.
• Millions are unable to commute to jobs,
many of which are not open anyway,
due to impassable roads, traffic jams,
and no metro or no gas.
• Food and water shortages.

21. NEW JERSEY: NOV. 2, 2012

22. TAXIS UNDER WATER: NEW
YORK CITY

23. OTHER CONDITIONS THE FIRST
FIVE DAYS (Oct. 30-Nov. 3)
• Horrific traffic jams in downtown
Manhattan (if you could drive)
• Long lines of people and cars waiting
for gas at all local service stations
• No gas at many service stations
• Gas at some service stations, BUT no
generators to provide the electricity to
pump the gas.

24. BAD NEWS
A Nor’easter is expected on
Wednesday, November 8.