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USA: Hurricane Sandy 2012
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date: 15 April 2013 On Friday April 12, 2013 the Government of Jamaica and the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility signed a Memorandum of Understanding, formalising a donation of US$100,000 made by CCRIF to the Government of Jamaica to support Jamaica’s post-disaster recovery and restoration initiatives following the effects of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012... |
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date: 28 March 2013 'Our impulse is to try to move quickly to put communities back together the way they were after devastation. But that impulse often leads to doubling down on high-risk investments, such as rebuilding in areas likely to experience severe impacts. To move toward long-term resiliency for coastal communities, we need to seize opportunities to apply new thinking, new standards and long-term solutions'... |
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date: 27 March 2013 'The severe weather-related events in the US provided a reminder of the value of insurance and the vital role it plays in helping individuals, communities and businesses to recover from the devastating effects of catastrophes. However, large parts of the globe that are prone to weather extremes were not able to rely on financial relief due to low insurance penetration'... |
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date: 7 March 2013 The City of Hoboken, New Jersey is organizing a 5K and Fun Run in support of a global UN initiative, the 'Making Cities Resilient' campaign, led by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. The event is aiming to raise public awareness about disaster risk reduction and to raise funds for the recovery of Sandy-affected cities... |
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date: 6 March 2013 Now, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the City of Hoboken, New Jersey is hosting this event to raise public awareness about disaster risk reduction and to raise funds for the recovery of Sandy affected cities. Margareta Wahlström, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, will be present for the event... |
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date: 26 February 2013 The new maps add thousands of buildings and many square miles of land thought to be unlikely to flood prior to Sandy and are intended to be used to rebuild and fortify flooded areas as well as to set premium rates for flood insurance and play a role in building codes and other regulations... |
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date: 20 February 2013 Journalists and climate scientists at AAAS panel see ‘Superstorm Sandy’ as game-changer on public attitudes. Next step involves finding the right words, writes Jennifer Weeks, a writer specializing in environment and energy stories. 'Now the issue is to convey that support to decision makers...' |
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date: 11 February 2013 Soon after Hurricane Sandy hit, devastating much of the Northeast, politicians and experts took to the press to urge the government to help communities rebuild 'better'. But what exactly does rebuilding 'better' mean?... |
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date: 6 February 2013 'The fear is that we'll get a meter of sea level rise by the end of the century, potentially more,' said Philip Orton, a physical oceanographer at the Stevens Institute of Technology. 'People are rightfully concerned. The New York City area isn't ready for the storm surges of today, as we learned from Sandy, let alone what is possible in the future'... |
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date: 5 February 2013 In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, which brought historic flooding to the greater New York area, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino called on city agencies, as well as landlords of low-lying properties, to assess what parts of city infrastructure, including its subway system, would be most at risk from flooding... |
date: 7 January 2013 'As part of the sorely-needed aid package to help victims of Hurricane Sandy, Congress is also considering spending billions on ill-advised and environmentally damaging beach and coastal rebuilding projects that ignore the looming threats of rising seas and intensifying storms,' according to Professor Rob Young of Yale University... |
date: 3 January 2013 Munich Re Board member Torsten Jeworrek: 'The heavy losses caused by weather-related natural catastrophes in the USA showed that greater loss-prevention efforts are needed. It would certainly be possible to protect conurbations like New York better from the effects of storm surges. Such action would make economic sense and insurers could also reflect the reduced exposure in their pricing'... |
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date: 20 December 2012 US Senate Republicans are planning to cut $13 billion from the proposed post Hurricane Sandy reconstruction aid that would have been spent on infrastructure improvements to prepare for future storms, such as making the New York City subway tunnels flood proof or constructing sand barriers to protect some shorelines from storm surges... |
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date: 19 December 2012 'Although insurance cannot bring back lost lives, many people and businesses can rely on financial relief from insurance cover. However, in large parts of the globe that are prone to severe weather events, people and businesses could increase risk-preparedness by eliminating underinsurance,' said Kurt Karl of Swiss Re... |
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date: 17 December 2012 Avant Sandy, nous pensions que New York était menacée par un ouragan tous les cent ans. Le grand défi de la durabilité était théorique. Maintenant nous savons qu'une catastrophe peut se produire chaque année", explique Rick Bell, directeur du centre d'architecture... |
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date: 3 December 2012 'The devastation wrought by superstorm Sandy is prompting renewed thinking about climate change and national security,' writes Lord Hunt of Delft University and former director-general of the UK Meteorological Office and Johnny Chan chair of the World Meteorological Organization’s Tropical Cyclone Panel... |
date: 29 November 2012 'The next storm could hit next year or in 20 years. The real question for New Yorkers is, given that there will be another storm, what do they want it to look like? And if they don’t want it to look like Sandy, they are going to have to spend some money,' said hurricane expert Roger Pielke of the University of Colorado-Boulder... |
date: 22 November 2012 If Sandy should act as a wake-up call for the need to increase business commitments, there is also a need for a co-ordinated effort among every level of society, business and government, especially as negotiators from around the world will soon gather at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP18)... |
date: 22 November 2012 'The infrastructure of the nation is aging and it's at risk because, quite frankly, we're all not investing enough to take care of these facilities. And now we're facing extreme weather threats that cause us to need emergency response capabilities beyond what we've had in the past,' said Paula Hammond, head of the state's Department of Transportation... |
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date: 22 November 2012 The group of climate change advocates suggestions include new building codes, moving power lines below ground, wetland restoration, flood barriers, sea gates and the possible relocation of some coastal communities... |
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date: 21 November 2012 Current estimates are that Hurricane Sandy may be the most expensive storm to have hit the United States since Hurricane Katrina with the final bill possibly reaching $50 billion. Last weekend, Margareta Wahlström, Chief of UNISDR, met with respective mayors, community members and emergency management teams in Hoboken, Jersey City and Union Beach, New Jersey and the borough of Staten Island in New York City... |
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date: 20 November 2012 A new website, PLOS Currents: Disasters has been launched. On the site field-reports and brief incident reports from on-going disasters undergo an expedited review with a goal of acceptance in a matter of days... |
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date: 20 November 2012 Reuters reports that in the aftermath of the historic floods caused by Superstorm Sandy, some city leaders have begun to argue for the construction of sea walls capable of shielding the U.S. coastline from ever more intense storms. Many however, are looking to alternatives and debating the cost of climate change adaptation... |
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date: 19 November 2012 'We talk a lot about infrastructure, but at the centre of all this is the people factor, and the way people live through a disaster will also impact their perception of the next disaster. Every disaster is an opportunity to improve the preparedness for the next one'... |
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date: 18 November 2012 This piece addresses the very pertinent debate about whether rebuilding in the aftermath of a disaster is always the wisest option, especially in high-risk areas that may experience the same devastation again and again... |
date: 16 November 2012 In the light of the recent devastation that Hurricane Sandy has done in the USA, Haiti and in the Caribbean, community preparedness and response efforts, and the early warning systems in place as well as information sharing centers showed that small preparedness efforts can have a huge impact in case of emergencies... |
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date: 16 November 2012 'Superstorm' Sandy has made it clear that flooding is not only a New Orleans problem: some of the country’s densest population centers are also extremely vulnerable to rising sea levels and storm surges. For cities like New York, the waterfront is a design problem on a gigantic scale, reports Radio 360. Listen to the programme with guest Adam Yarinsky... |
date: 15 November 2012 'As global corporations expand into the emerging growth markets, their operations and supply chains will become exposed to a complex set of climate risks that have the potential to disrupt business continuity,' states Maplecroft’s Head of Maps and Indices, Helen Hodge. 'It is essential for them to identify where suppliers, assets and personnel are most at risk and plan for the long term'... |
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date: 12 November 2012 Haitian authorities met with IDB officials last week in Port-au-Prince and agreed to focus the assistance on rebuilding transport infrastructure, revitalizing agriculture and reinforcing river banks to mitigate flooding... |
date: 9 November 2012 The representative of Japan said the earthquake that rocked the country in March 2011 was one of the five most powerful earthquakes since 1900. Yet, despite the scale of the earthquake, the damage was minimised due to strong building codes and effective early warning systems. Japan therefore wanted to continue sharing the lessons learned in 2011 with the international community... |
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date: 9 November 2012 'The United Nations is working closely with national authorities, donors and emergency organizations to ensure the strongest possible support for national efforts to see to their needs today and to strengthen disaster risk reduction for the future,' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said... |
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date: 8 November 2012 'Our shared challenge in Asia and the Pacific is to control both the growing rate of exposure and rising vulnerability. Exposure to hazards has multiplied as urban centers grow and people and economic activities expand into increasingly exposed and hazard-prone land,' said Noeleen Heyzer, ESCAP's executive secretary... |
date: 7 November 2012 'As we see more extreme events like Sandy, the importance of assessing regional impacts grows,' says lead researcher Adam Schlosser, assistant director for science research at MIT’s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change... |
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date: 7 November 2012 'The initial focus of Obama's climate change and energy efforts are likely to focus on extending the wind energy tax credit as soon as possible, accelerating efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions through the Environmental Protection Agency, and managing to fall out of Hurricane Sandy to highlight the need for more investment in climate change adaptation'... |
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date: 5 November 2012 With more than one third of the 305 Asia-Pacific cities in coastal areas, 'the lesson for the region from Hurricane Sandy must be to improve coastal urban planning, storm protection, and relief and recovery when disaster strikes'... |
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date: 2 November 2012 'Each catastrophe should trigger a national conversation that should lead to a set of mutually-supportive private- and public-sector actions to build resilience at the community level and reduce future risk,' stated William H. Hook, senior policy fellow at the American Meteorological Society... |
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date: 1 November 2012 'There is no doubt that our relief and rescue efforts need to be fine tuned with the changing times, but surely not before we devise effective preventive measures which could potentially save thousands of lives and a colossal amount of property'... |
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date: 1 November 2012 At this time of crisis, the Secretary-General’s thoughts and prayers are with all those in need. He pledges the full support of the United Nations in rebuilding today, strengthening global disaster risk reduction, and preparing the world for a safer tomorrow... |
date: 31 October 2012 Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City, is planning to make the coastline of the metropolis safer from storm surges and flooding. Among the ideas, there are artificial islands and oyster reefs to be used as natural sea walls... |
date: 31 October 2012 'Physical exposure to tropical cyclones has almost tripled over the last 40 years because more industry is located in exposed areas and more people want to live in coastal areas. However, it is clear that we are not investing sufficiently in making our public infrastructure disaster resilient,' said UNISDR chief Margareta Wahlström... |
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date: 31 October 2012 'What should we do next? It is not ruled out that after the hurricane in the US the government will revise some of the norms for the housing construction. It will cost more to the people and the government to build firmer houses but these houses will be capable to withstand new natural threats,' said Alexei Kokorin, head of the Climate and Energy program of the World Wildlife Fund... |
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date: 31 October 2012 'We, in Europe, are not immune to natural disasters either...This means we in Europe also need to take seriously preparedness, risk assessment, coordination, and mitigation measures. We are taking steps in the right direction – Sandy is yet again ringing the bell that we must do more and do it faster'... |
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date: 31 October 2012 'From all indications, the communities did very well,' said Karema Aikens-Mitchell, a senior director from the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) of Jamaica, pointing to a number of disaster mitigation projects which may have prevented the loss of millions of dollars in property and may even have saved lives... |
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date: 31 October 2012 The Vancouver Sun reports that severe weather events such as superstorm Sandy are creating a new, $1-billion baseline for annual severe weather payouts by Canada's property insurers, signifying the increasing costs of extreme weather events experienced in Canada... |
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date: 31 October 2012 Gullies and channels constructed as part of a cash for work programme in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake helped divert rainwater away from homes that would otherwise have flooded, highlighting the importance of preparing for disasters such as hurricanes... |
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date: 31 October 2012 In his blog post, William H. Hooke offers concrete steps towards better DRR and learning from Sandy. It calls for (i) increased learning from other industries (commercial aviation) on how to incorporate lessons learned from disasters, and (ii) also suggests that real estate developers file disaster risk statements when building on land... |
date: 30 October 2012 Australia is also studying the effectiveness of US government public alerts ahead of Hurricane Sandy's arrival and how receptive the population has been as a guide to how to handle future disaster risks in Australia... |
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date: 30 October 2012 'Their sense of preparedness is amazing and the political will of their leaders like Mayor Bloomberg is laudable considering he closed down the subways, forcibly evacuated residents as he did in Hurricane Irene,' Senator Loren Legarda said when asked if Filipinos could learn anything from the US response to Sandy... |
date: 30 October 2012 The service provides warnings for natural disasters and emergency situations. They appear based on targeted Google searches, such as [Superstorm Sandy], or with location-based search queries like [New York]... |
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date: 30 October 2012 'Hurricane Sandy cannot be attributed to climate change, but warming does mean there is more moisture in the atmosphere,' concludes Chris Mooney for the Guardian. Scientists are uncertain whether hurricane Sandy is related to climate change... |