Superstorm Sandy hit the east coast with such strength that many neighborhoods are still trying to get back on their feet five years later. Although some undated infrastructure has been repaired and improved, there are still way too many plans that haven’t gone anywhere passed the planning portion. Actions haven’t been taken to increase the safety of cities and neighborhoods and shield them from other natural disasters like Sandy, leaving many people defenseless and scared for the future. Some of the plans that are in place include: looking for every area in which water can come in and sealing it, “installing submarine doors, Kevlar curtains and mechanical gates to plug more than 3,000 openings into the subway below 14th Street (McGeehan and Hu),” and building walls around buildings to create flooding barriers. Some of the actions that have already taken place in the effort to prevent damage include: raising equipment and living establishments, as well as hospitals, schools, and etc. “The utility installed a submarine door that can seal off a tunnel that runs under the highway to the river, which originally was used to shuttle coal from barges (McGeehan and Hu).” Although there have been many efforts by the city and by government officials to push for better preparedness, there is still a long way to go to ensuring that our city and other cities are safe from natural disasters that could possibly create more damage than even Sandy did.
