The Forgotten Aftermath Of Natural Disaster: Cleaning Up

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It's arguably one of the saddest realities associated with Natural Disasters. First something horrifying tears through everyday life and leaves people stranded, to which we all respond in good nature and empathy, offering to help clean up and donate money to various causes. Then, a measly few months after the fact, disaster has been erased from our memory and we've moved on to the next fixation. The Gulf of Mexico is still recovering from the BP Oil spill. Tornadoes that have ransacked the south and Midwest still leave scars throughout communities. And, even closer to home, the wreckage from Hurricane Sandy still looms in some of the most populated areas in the US. What is involved in the process to clean up and return to normal from natural disasters like Sandy, past simply donating a dollar to the Red Cross?

"Hurricane Sandy came ashore late in the day on Monday, October 28, 2012. It is a date New York and New Jersey residents won't soon forget. The storm wiped out houses and pushed sand and water four blocks inland in some places. While many had evacuated, many others were left stranded. About 10,000 Air National Guard and Army forces came on duty round the clock in the 13 states that were affected by the massive hurricane. The nation tends to rally during the aftermath of a natural disaster. Something about the unequivocal power of nature and its indiscriminate path of destruction makes it easy to ask, “What if it happened to me?” Millions found their answer in the post-Sandy relief effort.

Getting any place back to normal after a crippling disaster takes time, effort and millions of dollars. Though the response to Haiti’s 2010 earthquake shocked the world with its magnitude, the restoration is still happening nearly three years later. The Sandy cleanup effort has been called “military” by New York Times writer Eric Lipton, but one wonders just how long crews will be in restoring The Rockaways."

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