Search

The National Regulatory Commission: Government agency responsible for public safety with regards to nuclear reactors and nuclear energy

Entergy: An integrated energy company that primarily deals with electric power production. Operators of the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant

Disaster Accountability Project: Nonprofit organization that monitors disaster-response programs and acts as a watchdog for disaster response and preperation

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. 

Although this article talks about how NJPAC will donate money to the victims of the natural disaster, it doesn't include how the money will be used: will it be used to help support the people affected by the storm, help rebuild the building destroyed, etc? In addition, I feel as if this article is missing the key information of how severe the storm struck some places along the coast: by providing such information, it would create more awareness and allow a higher chance for the tickets to be purchased to help support the cause.

The main methods that the authors appear to use are reported data from disasters that have happened around the globe, including numbers and types of infections, displacement and crowding data, and knowledge of the disaster incidents examined

In the article, it expalins the various attempts of securing the area and preventing further damage from the storm. There were several plans of evacuation, shelters opened up to those in need, protection of federal troops were deployed and many towns offered relief help after the storm had passed.

The main point of the article is to report a conflict of opinions between the NRC and the Disaster Accountability Project on the safety of the communities surrounding the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. The NRC and the company running the plant, Entergy, state that those communities within a 10 mile radius are required to have emergency evacuation plans in place should a nuclear emergency occur; those outside this radius, however, are not at as large of risk. The nonprofit, however, cites the NRC's report on the Fukushima disaster, where it recommended the US citizens within 50 miles of the plant should evacuate the area, and suggests that communities within a 50 mile radius of Indian Point have specific nuclear emergency plans at hand and prepared for use. Entergy says that the radius "provides a robust safety margin", and the NRC replies to the Disaster Accountability Project's statement by saying that the incident at Fukushima is not comparable to any nuclear power cite in the US, due to the size and number of reactors in the Fukushima plant.