Hurricane Sandy Flashcards
When did Sandy make landfall?
29th October 2012 after damaging Caribbean from the 18th of October
What was unusual about sandy’s pattern?
It curved back towards the USA because of blocking high pressure over Greenland which prevented movement over the Atlantic Ocean
What were the affected areas?
New Jersey and New York (worse affected), 24 sates
List the primary effects:
111 killed, boardwalk in Atlantic city destroyed, 1.8 million in NJ + NY without electricity, 600,000 home destroyed/damaged, $60 billion damage was done, 1 crane collapsed, part of subway flooded, 6-7 metres storm surge, 40,000 rehoused
List the secondary effects:
$18 billion in financial loss from closure of NY businesses, flooding, 80 homes lost due to gas fires (firefighters couldn’t reach), fuel shortages (long queues at petrol stations), all 3 of NY’s airports closed (JFK, La Guardia, Newark), many stranded, commuters couldn’t get to work as closed subway, reduction in productivity, Boston marathon cancelled, stock exchange closed for 2 days, east coast oil refinery was destroyed restricting US oil production, both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney stopped election campaigns for 3 days, lack of power, followed by snow and cold weather led to people freezing, rise in crime in unoccupied buildings
List the short term responses:
Red Cross sheltered 11,000, President Obama declared a state of emergency in NY + NJ which freed up more money and resources to help with the relief effort, marathon runners fundraiser by doing unofficial run around the city, empty hotels and apartments were used to shelter some of the homeless, Red Cross deployed 17 million meals and snacks, RC donated 7 million relief items (cold weather clothes), Americare (NGO) supplied $3.5 million in medical supplies ro the affected areas, FEMA deployed disaster managers and experts to areas likely impacted so they were already in place, The National Guard and U.S. Air Force put as many as 45,000 personnel in at least seven states on alert for possible duty in response to the preparations and aftermath of Sandy
List the long term responses:
Planning out in place for future events, 201 a law passed allowing $50 billion of federal money to be spent on repairing damage, investigation carried out into a micro-grid system for NY’s electricity supply to avoid widespread blackout, rental assistance fund for those survivors who have lost their uninsured home and can’t afford to leave emergency accommodation, New stricter building codes enforced for coastal properties and alteration on electricity supply, Us government passed a relief bill for $48 billion for states affected
Disney and BAC held a ‘day of giving’ and raised $17 million for American Red Cross, 76 evacuation shelters set up in NY, $23 million raised by NBC during a telephone, October 31, 2012, Direct Relief committed an initial $250,000 and its entire $25 million stockpile of available medical inventories to support medical relief and recovery efforts. That initial commitment was raised to $1 million within 48 hours, after the organization received financial contributions totaling more than $500,000.
What was the issue with the RC’s 17 million meals and snacks and appearances from presidential candidates?
Criticised as being only for publicity
What major error did the RC make?
Sent 17,000 volunteers to Tampa, Florida as storm expected to hit there so couldn’t get all people to NY
