Two and a half months after Superstorm Sandy made landfall in New Jersey, the U.S. Congress appears to be close to approving a relief package of tens of billions of dollars. Government workers, contractors, and volunteers on the ground are still in the midst of an extensive cleanup phase and welcome the much-needed funds as they rebuild homes, businesses, and infrastructure. While some of the estimated 230,000 cars damaged by Sandy's saltwater surge will soon be going up for auction, many are simply headed for the crusher. Gathered below are images of the ongoing cleanup efforts and those still suffering from the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
I can't believe this is still such a ruin, and yet I've heard no one speak of it, and I don't know of any major government effort to do something as basic as get people back into their homes. I guess we've moved on to guns though, because we as a country can't seem to manage more than one issue at a time.
It's a similar phenomena compared to what happened after hurricane Katrina, or the BP oil spill, or the Haiti earthquake, or the tsunami in Japan, or the earthquake in Indonesia, etc. I really wish that people weren't as quick to move on, but I do it as well. It seems so far away and irrelevant to me, even though it's terrible and deserves action. I don't have the answer to human apathy, though I wish I did.
The Atlantic is great, no doubt about it. Thanks for the link, it's a reminder that we are capable of some pretty horrible stuff. There are some amazing images in there, the one with the sunlight darting through the bullet holes is beautiful.
I think the worst part of it is that relief has mainly been delayed due to politicians from Southern States, some of them are the same people that received aid for Hurricane Katrina. They were fine getting theirs, but won't let others receive aid without conditions.
So what are all of these people whose homes were destroyed doing now?