Hurricane Sandy: The Superstorm – a Disaster or a Lesson to Learn

Nature was rigorous with the inhabitants of the eastern United States during last two weeks. Barely more than a week after monster hurricane Sandy hit the region a warning about another approaching storm, a northeaster, was announced. These disasters caused extensive damage, multiple fatalities, ground and air transportation outages, destroyed buildings and infrastructure. Millions of people in Northeast cities, especially New York and New Jersey, were left without power and means of travel to a halt. It will take years as well as huge human efforts and financial expenses to recover from the losses. However, that which does not kill us makes us stronger and it is important to draw lessons from any life experience. So what has the hurricane taught us?

First of all, the hurricane is a strong reminder of the enormous power of nature and the limits of our capacities to control it. Modern people, particularly the residents of metropolises, got accustomed to living in comfort created by modern facilities and state-of-the-art technologies. But the safety may be deceptive. In spite of all the technical achievements nature represents a huge force that may sweep away the whole of civilization if the proper protective measures were not taken.

The second lesson is that, whatever they say, sincere generosity, morality and humanism are still widespread in our society. There were numerous examples of mutual support, gratuitous aid and charity against the background of devastation caused by the storm. Although there were concerns about crime in darkened and ruined cities but in fact the crime rate declined during that period. Reuters reported that crime in New York City dropped by a third in the days after storm Sandy. Sure, certain merit in this belongs to police that was stretched to the region hit by disaster but still…

One more important lesson is that in order to withstand consequences of hurricanes people had to become creative and to recall all their survival skills which were unclaimed in good times. Everyday life of a modern person also may be considered as a fight for survival but this battle usually takes place in classrooms and offices. People, left reeling in the aftermath of a storm, had to cope with massive flooding, power outages, structural damage and travel disruption which requires much more courage and strength than their usual mode of living. The residents of the East Coast have passed this hard test. They took the destruction in stride, stocked up on bottled water, canned food and flashlights, built barriers of sandbags for flood protection, used paddle boards and boats to move around flooded streets and found lots of other smart solutions for hurricane-connected problems. Many business owners also managed to hold down in those critical conditions, they used headlamps while doing paperwork, bars and restaurants were serving drinks and food even though they have no power, some grocery stores also kept working. Because of destroyed transport system the businesses lost an essential ingredient for functioning: employees and in order to continue operating had to invent alternative ways to deliver employees to their workplaces.

Unfortunately natural disasters are inevitable. However, learning the lessons from past calamities, elaborate preparations and security arrangements, accurate information sharing and timely decision making are essential to avoid fatal losses and to bring life back to normal more quickly.

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