Search

A year after Hurricane Sandy, ten different design groups, filled with designers, architects, planners and engineers, decided to gather at NJIT to discuss ways on how to make Newark less vulnerable to hurricanes and other natural disasters. One team was lead by a professor at NJIT, who had four different proposals that will protect a wide portion of the coasts of New Jersey. Each of the teams came up with several ideas on how to make Newark more resilient to natural disasters.

There were several forms of resilience int eh article. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were preparing several emergency personnel are preparing all along the coast. In addition to this, there were several shelters open, one specfically at the John F. Kennedy Recreation Center. Many of the shelters had also teamed up with Red Cross to help during the storm.

The author of the article took several quotes from government officials to depict the severity of the situation: mainly taking quotes from governors and even the president to illustrate how the hurricane affected the surrounding communities and mentalities of those living in such towns. In addition, the author added statistics of the support relief and the number of deceased due to the storm. The author also discussed the background of many of the public transportation work shifts, such as airlfight and train systems: they were down becuase of the storm.

The largest risk at hand would be how the nautral disaster, Hurricane Sandy, affected the beaches of New Jersey, causing some the beaches to lose a significant amount of sand; this becomes a risk because the beaches weren't available to use. The beaches of New Jersey make most of the profit in tourism: the shore gaining $35.5 billion for tourism locations. This became a risk becuase there was money lost during and after the storm, as groups tried to repair the shores. In addition, the cost to repair the shores were extremely costly. Another group that received risks and hazards were the communities near the shores: they had to change their entire lifestyle when the beaches were destroyed after the storm. Those communities had to learn how to live without the beaches' resources and had to get accustomed to not going down to the shores while the beaches were being restored.

After the storms, many towns affected came up with ways to increase protection in infrastructure. Town officials working alongside exerpts have been working to upgrade their plans on making their communities more resilient to natural disasters. There have also many several funds and donations for the towns affected by Sandy; there have also been ways on how to help prevent flooding in such areas. In the article, it discusses how "the DEP has worked with local officials to design a proposed $230 million federally-funded system of flood walls along the Hudson River for Hoboken and parts of Weehawken and Jersey City."

"Hurricane Irene marches north, leaving at least 8 people dead and close to 2 million without power in the states it has already hit. Tonight it bore down on millions more from the Delmarva peninsula to the Jersey Shore and the New York metropolitan area."

"More than a million residents and visitors of the Jersey Shore have been evacuated, though a stubborn 600 people, many of them senior citizens, remain in high rise buildings on a barrier island in Atlantic City, according to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Even before the core of the hurricane reached the area Sunday, Christie said winds could reach up to 75 mph at the upper floors of some of the buildings."

"New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered 2,000 National Guard troops deployed to Long Island, New York City, and the Hudson Valley area to help with the storm. Troops will help staff shelters, control evacuation routes, monitor flood threats at the World Trade Center site and work with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to secure railways and train tunnels."

"Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has issued a prepare-to-deploy order for 6,500 active duty troops from all the services to support hurricane relief efforts if necessary."

The aftermaths of Sandy had created many vulnerabilites to the communities around the shores. There were about 840 million gallons of raw sewage scattered into the Passaic River; and since the sewerage system had struggled to get back to full operating hours and service, there were 4.4 billion gallons of partially treated sewage were released into New York Harbor. In addition, many infrastructure was severely damaged after the storm: houses, power substations, police headquarters, etc.

The main sources of resilience are: discussing the list of pollutants that are spread across through a demographic structure, how pollutants affect and become more apparent to different race and economic levels; the information about possible new pollutants that could appear due to the addition of new companies; and the reconstruction on the zoning laws in Newark. Additionally, there are numerous environmentalists of all types behind this new addition to the zoning and land use regulations.