A Response to Sandy

A Response to Sandy
By: Marjorie Kirk

Subway tunnels flooded; streets flowed with streams of trash; houses that stood for more than fifty years collapsed like top hats in the hands of turbulent children. Sandy left a great mark on this country. This country, in exchange, proved its ability to stand united in the face of adversity and exhibit the strength it gained since faced with similar scenes of devastation seven-years-ago in New Orleans.

“Our investigation revealed that Katrina was a national failure, an abdication of the most solemn obligation to provide for the common welfare. At every level—individual, corporate, philanthropic, and governmental—we failed to meet the challenge that was Katrina. In this cautionary tale, all the little pigs built houses of straw,” read the report released by the House of Representatives, A Failure of Initiative, which detailed the failure of government organization and crisis management on the part of the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and the President’s administration. With news of an even greater storm, Sandy, on a direct course for the East coast, citizens in New York and New Jersey greatly feared a repeat of the New Orleans debacle. But the quick response of President Obama’s administration to the crisis reflected a rejuvenated country of philanthropic and determined desires. Images of officers and agents working with the people, in New York City and New Jersey especially, to restore them to their near original states reaped prosperity finally for those displaced by the horrible storm.

Having traveled to New York two weeks after the storm hit, I beheld a sight of great contrast to many of the reports. The city was quickly recovering from the devastation of Sandy, but oddly enough not many government interventions were noticeable in the city. Reports from New Jersey said, “The cities has been packed with Homeland Security and the Red Cross officials since the 1st of November.” Though Manhattan had been hit, much of the government presence in New York had been confined to the Burroughs which took much more of the impact from Sandy than the Island. But if the government’s attention was focused on the Burroughs and New Jersey, than how was Manhattan recovering so well barely two weeks after the storm? The answer was the hoards of people crowded around churches, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, any public service building in which trucks were being loaded with tons of supplies, from blankets and tarps, to water and diapers. Volunteer work in the city far surmounted any hopes of public compliance that government officials could have asked for. Parts of the city, people from the surrounding states, and a coalition of volunteers within every state contributed to the solution of Sandy. What emerged thoroughly distinguish the ingenuity and compassion America is famous for from many other countries who have experience such a large storm in so little time.

When compared to Hurricane Katrina, disaster, as they have showed with their department involvement in the days that followed the storm, could not destroy the American spirit as Katrina had; in fact it fostered a the recovery from the storm by maintaining a strong image of the country and its reaction to all threats foreign and domestic. Following the comparison made by Representatives from the House of Representatives, the state of the union was coming closer and closer to fixing again, brick by brick; towns who had lost hope to such a devastating event rejoiced in this newfound glory, and benevolence that their nation exhibited for their benefit.