REMEMBERING SANDY FIVE YEARS LATER
[https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20210318/remembering-sandy-five-years-later]


Release Date: 
Tháng 10 28, 2017 

NEW YORK CITY – In the five years since Hurricane Sandy made
landfall along the East Coast, the Department of Homeland Security’s
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has contributed more than
$25.5 billion to the recovery in New York and New Jersey.

Hurricane Sandy was the second-largest Atlantic storm on record, and
affected the East Coast from Florida to Maine, as well as states as
far inland as West Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana. The storm made
landfall in southern New Jersey on Oct. 29, 2012, battering the
densely populated New York and New Jersey region with heavy rains,
strong winds, and record storm surges.

When the winds died and the waters calmed, residents were confronted
with a level of destruction most had never before experienced. The
storm’s effects were extensive, leaving more than four million
customers without power and more than 340,000 homes and apartments
severely damaged in New York and New Jersey.

A coordinated federal, state, tribal nation, and local response team
worked around-the-clock to restore power, public transportation,
critical infrastructure, and the services citizens depend upon.
Emergency officials moved rapidly to conduct inspections to expedite
the removal of the debris that littered the landscape, obstructing
roads, rail lines and waterways, and threatening public safety. Within
seven days, 17,000 federal responders were on the ground, including
more than 5,000 FEMA employees – representing one of the largest
personnel deployments in FEMA’s history. Federal partners including
the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Housing and
Urban Development, Small Business Administration, Department of
Transportation, Department of Health and Human Services and the
Department of Defense worked with FEMA, New York State and New Jersey
to assist Sandy survivors.

More than $1.4 billion was disbursed to 179,016 individuals and
households impacted by Sandy in New Jersey and New York. The majority,
more than $1.2 billion, of this was dedicated to housing assistance,
including costs for temporary housing, repair or replacement of
eligible damaged property, and other disaster-related expenses not
covered by homeowner’s or renter’s insurance.

Through the Public Assistance Program FEMA has obligated nearly $15.2
billion, for Hurricane Sandy-related debris removal, emergency
protective measures and permanent restoration of public facilities and
critical infrastructure in New York and New Jersey.

“Hurricane Sandy’s historic impact on the region has shifted our
recovery focus to building back safer and stronger,” said FEMA’s
Region II Administrator Tom Von Essen. “The storms and events we
have seen since Sandy further highlight the importance of preparing
our citizens and critical infrastructure for the worst.”

In January 2013, Congress passed the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act
(SRIA) of 2013, which included legislative changes allowing FEMA—and
the state, tribal, local and territorial governments it
supports—greater flexibility in administering assistance programs,
improving the Nation’s ability to efficiently respond to and recover
from disasters.

SRIA directs FEMA to streamline Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP)
activities, and to adopt measures to expedite implementation of the
program. The legislation allows FEMA to provide up to 25 percent of
the estimated costs for eligible hazard mitigation measures to a state
or tribal nation grantee before eligible costs are incurred.

Recognizing that mitigation is an essential component to national
preparedness and emergency management, FEMA’s HMGP awarded more than
$1 billion for mitigation projects in Region II to proactively reduce
the loss of life and property from future disasters.

No two disasters are alike. Since Hurricane Sandy, FEMA incorporated a
number of Presidential directives, policies and Executive Orders into
its day-to-day operations to help deliver federal disaster assistance
to communities in an expedited manner, allowing recovery efforts to
get underway sooner. Improved communication and coordination between
interagency partners and stakeholders has provided for a smoother and
more effective execution of programs. This shift includes a focus on
long-term resiliency and sustainability, better positioning the nation
to handle storms of such magnitude.

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_FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to
ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and
improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to,
recover from, and mitigate all hazards._

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