Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Earth Science News .




DISASTER MANAGEMENT
New York's Sandy lesson: evacuate and get boats
by Staff Writers
New York (AFP) May 3, 2013


New York needs everything from bigger evacuations to better boats if it is to weather another event like last year's Hurricane Sandy, a wide-ranging review showed Friday.

The 59 recommendations in a report by deputy mayors Linda Gibbs and Cas Holloway seek to improve on the response to Sandy, which left 43 New Yorkers dead and forced tens of thousands of people out of their homes last October.

The proposed measures focus on evacuating low-lying coastal areas, getting better information to New Yorkers during phone and electricity blackouts, dealing with flooded houses, relief distribution, and getting emergency services the right equipment.

The city says that during Sandy and its aftermath, it sent 2,000 Tweets and received 16 million page views on its nyc.gov website.

When it came to ordering mandatory evacuations from at-risk neighborhoods, the authorities say they made 33,000 calls and knocked on more than 10,000 doors of the most fragile residents.

However, the message didn't entirely get through, the report concedes.

"Despite extensive communications before the storm, many residents of Zone A chose not to leave their homes," the report said, noting that a survey showed that most of those who ignored the mayoral order believed "the storm would not be strong enough to pose a danger."

In the future, the city will have to "ensure that communications clearly explain the importance of following an evacuation order," the report said, suggesting the city also work with advertising companies to make use of digital billboards.

And if there is another hurricane, more people will be asked to leave their homes.

The deputy mayors noted that floods from the storm surge "significantly exceeded" the primary Zone A.

So from now, the three existing zones will be replaced with six, including much of southern Manhattan, encompassing an additional 640,000 New Yorkers.

After the storm passed over, the biggest and longest lasting problem for New Yorkers were power outages, something the new report says must be addressed before the next incident.

"Significant steps can be taken to strengthen the city's capacity to more quickly respond to the massive power outages that residents and businesses faced following the storm," the deputy mayors wrote.

Many of the recommendations call for complex plans, but one of the most specific items is the call for getting police the right kind of small boat to navigate flooded streets.

"NYPD patrol commands used flat-bottomed jon boats to conduct many rescues; because these boats do not have motors and require manual rowing or towing, they limit mobility and maneuverability in swift currents," the report noted.

"Because these boats are metal, officers had to use extreme caution to avoid downed power lines."

Instead, patrol police should have been issued the same inflatable craft used by specialized police and fire department units.

These "have outboard motors that can operate with only 18 inches of draft and are made of... galvanized rubber that is easily decontaminated and patched. Inflatable boats are generally more maneuverable than jon boats, fold up for storage on a vehicle, and can be easily deployed," the report said.

.


Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
A world of storm and tempest
When the Earth Quakes






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Finding a sensible balance for natural hazard mitigation with mathematical models
Philadelphia PA (SPX) May 09, 2013
Uncertainty issues are paramount in the assessment of risks posed by natural hazards and in developing strategies to alleviate their consequences. In a paper published last month in the SIAM/ASA Journal on Uncertainty Quantification, the father-son team of Jerome and Seth Stein describe a model that estimates the balance between costs and benefits of mitigation-efforts to reduce losses by ... read more


DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Brother admits defeat in tragic Bangladesh search

New York's Sandy lesson: evacuate and get boats

Global networks must be redesigned

Hong Kong ferry disaster report finds 'litany of errors'

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
NASA Partners With Utah State University's Space Dynamics Lab

Silicone liquid crystal stiffens with repeated compression

Researchers tackle collapsing bridges with new technology

Penn Research Helps to Show How Turbulence Can Occur Without Inertia

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Health defects found in fish exposed to Deepwater Horizon oil spill

Australia's Barrier Reef set for heritage downgrade: UNESCO

Scientists uncover relationship between lavas erupting on sea floor and deep-carbon cycle

Sea Turtles Benefiting From Protected Areas

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
UN sounds alarm over record Arctic ice melt

Discovered: A mammal and bug food co-op in the High Arctic

EU spars with Canada, Norway at WTO over seal ban

EU court maintains seal fur ban

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Substances in honey increase detoxification gene expression

Traditional ranching practices enhance African savanna

New plant protein discoveries could ease global food and fuel demands

More food and greener farming with specialised transporters for plants

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Saudi floods death toll rises to 20: civil defence

Flash floods in Saudi kill 16: civil defence

Earthquake rattles buildings in northern India

Two dead as quake shakes northern India

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Tunisian army unable to find jihadists: ministry

Questions in S.Africa after Zuma's rich friends use military base

S.Africa army death toll in Central Africa rises to 14

Sudan state declared rebel 'target' as aviation warned

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Printable 'bionic' ear melds electronics and biology

CNIO researchers 'capture' the replication of the human genome for the first time

For ancient Maya, a hodgepodge of cultural exchanges

Genetic circuit allows both individual freedom, collective good




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement