According to the article, officials were trying to evacuate the areas that they predict to have the most damage, move people to higher ground, tell people to stay indoors, and close all public transportation systems.
In this case, the hazard is distributed differently in the sense of geography because areas near the Eastern shore have had much greater damage rather than ones far away from the Eastern shore.
The distribution of risk and damage for hurricane Irene was spread throughout the east coast of the US starting at Florida and working its way up to New York. Based on this, many people of all races and social classes were affected by the hurricane
For hurricane Irene, city and state governments had shelters built and prepared for the event, but the best solution was for complete evacuation, as the storm was predicted to be too strong. The precautions did not work fully because there were some casualties and injuries
Hazards/risks are distributed among different groups through geography. for example, areas near the Eastern shoreline like places in New Jersey are in a group because their zone damage is much more than those further away from the Eastern shorline like places in Nevada.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo ordered over 2000 National Guard troops were deployed to Long Island, New York City , and the hudson valley. Defense secretary Leon panetta had issued a prepare-to-deploy order in case the hurricane relief effort needed more support. Each service had to have 6,500 active duty troops ready in case they were called upon.