Friday, January 25, 2013

US Hurricane Sandy Victims Still Without Power, Heat, Water


The US is turning 'Japanese', as some Hurricane Sandy victims have spent nearly three months without power or running water. Other families are still living in hotels, with FEMA picking up the tab which has to be renewed every two weeks.

With the presidential election over, no more photo-op necessary for the power that be.

They still have 17 more months to go until they catch up with the Futaba-machi residents living in an abandoned high school since April 2011, eating bento meals that they are now made to pay for.

From Fox News (1/25/2013):

Sandy victims left out in the cold during arctic blast

The brutal cold snap affecting much of the country is taking a devastating toll on victims of superstorm Sandy, many of whom are camped out in tent cities or living in homes without power, heat or running water.

Those unable to get proper lodging have hunkered down in their homes without the basic necessities of heat, electricity, or running water.

“Many families in Union Beach are using space heaters to warm upstairs,” said Jeanette Van Houten, a resident from the small New Jersey town that was among the hardest-hit communities. “There’s people with no heat, no electric, but they are staying in the house because it’s better than having to deal with FEMA and having to leave hotels every two weeks.

“There are families who have chosen to stay in their homes just to have some sort of normalcy,” she added.

The cold wave has brought single-digit temperatures to the Northeast, some 10 to 15 degrees below normal for the time of year.

Residents of the New Dorp Beach section of Staten Island have taken shelter in tents set up by aid workers with only small propane heaters, sleeping bags and blankets to stave off the bone-chilling cold, according to reports.

In the Queens neighborhood of Breezy Point, one of the most storm-ravaged areas of the region, residents lined up at the local recovery center this week to pick up donated ceramic space heaters. Many of the suffering residents in the five boroughs of New York City say their homes still are barely habitable, despite the city’s so-called Rapid Repairs program that was supposed to make their homes livable quickly.

According to the city, construction teams for the Rapid Repairs program have restored heat, hot water and power to more than 12,000 city residents, with work still to be completed in another 1,900 buildings.

Some 3,500 families are still living in hotels in New York and New Jersey, with FEMA picking up the tab. But the expense authorizations expire every two weeks and must be renewed, leaving families in a state of anxiety over where they will sleep at night.

(Full article at the link)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

If Katrina's victims are any indication Sandy's victims still have a long wait before they see any help.

"More than 11 months after Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana's "Road Home" housing-aid program for victims of Katrina and Hurricane Rita has yet to come through with money for Watts or the roughly 100,000 others who have applied.

The first anniversary of Katrina at the end of August could come and go before they see the first dime. And it could be more than two years before the last of the money is handed out."

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-08-09-katrina-housing-aid_x.htm

Katrina victims are still waiting for their benefit concert 7 years after the disaster.

http://christwire.org/2012/12/shocked-hurricane-katrina-victims-still-waiting-for-their-awesome-benefit-concert/

Anonymous said...

@Laprimavera
You know Hurricane Katrina happened long before Fukushima, right? Last I heard, those victims are still being screwed. The Gulf Oil Spill people are still getting screwed, too.

It's hardly a "Japanese" thing. People in general don't care about maintenance and repairs. They just want to focus on "progress" and "the future". I'm surrounded by people like that. But there is no future for those who ignore their past. I've always believed that, and I recently watched a Japanese animated film with the same theme - "Kokurikozaka Kara" aka "From up on Poppy Hill" by Studio Ghibli. I liked it.

I've wanted to say this before, but I get the impression that you have a very low opinion of Japan, maybe because of how Fukushima turned out. I don't know if you're just venting your frustrations at them in general or not.

It's easy to generalize, but even if the majority of Japanese, or American, or any other country seem like stupid assholes, not everyone is. A few bad apples always ruin the lot.

And it's not even a matter of majority when it comes to something like Fukushima. It's about the people in places of power. It doesn't matter whether we voted for them or not, they still get their way, one way or another. They use the illusion of elections to manipulate public opinion and trust, and to foist the blame of their actions off on the rest of us. "When they screw us, it's our fault for voting for them".

Anonymous said...

anon @12:53AM, it only takes what you call "a few bad apple" to ruin the reputation of the whole, and that's how it goes anywhere in the world. The rest of the 'well-meaning' people are busy paving a way to hell with their gold intention.

Anonymous said...

Anon at 12:53AM, Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuke bomb victims are still trying to get the compensation from the national government after 68 years. Beats Katrina victims by far.

Anonymous said...

Ever heard of Minamata ?

Before a many years long fight by the Bay people to have some compensations, Chisso repeatedly denied the problem with all their strengh - that's tremendous, and then secretly kept on spewing their toxic wastes through other routes to the bay...
I would not allow me to despise a foreign country, I keep that for my own one, but sometimes I understand that Japanese people get more than fed-up with their country.

TechDud said...

one could look to what remains of Alexander Higgins' blog to see what residents were witness to in the immediate aftermath.

"I have spent the week waiting for help from FEMA while NJ governor Chris Christie is on TV saying FEMA is providing assistance within 24-48 hours. I showed up at a FEMA / Christie press conference just a few miles from my house and recorded them telling people 7 to 10 days to hear from them" - Alexander Higgins
quoted from: http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2012/11/04/alexander-higgins-house-blog-destroyed-by-flooded-by-sandy-5/

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