ICHARM member visit to USA for Hurricane Sandy Damage Investigation

The results below match well with the excellent survey conducted by the New York Times on the location and cause of death of the victims of Hurricane Sandy. It shows that males have a higher mortality risk after disaster, when they are conducting rescue or cleanup activities. It also proves the vulnerability of the New York transportation and pumping system, as was already known, in books as "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman.

From the ICHARM Newsletter:

ICHARM Researcher Conducts Hurricane Sandy Damage Investigation


ICHARM Research Specialist Megumi Sugimoto visited the United States for the Hurricane Sandy Damage Investigation in November 2012. She has contributed a brief report of the investigation as follows: Hurricane Sandy hit the eastern coast of the United States and caused devastation there during October 29-31 2012, killing 113 people. I investigated affected areas during November 20-23. When I arrived there about one month after the disaster, I saw people still distributing relief supplies.

Overview of damage: Hurricane Sandy landed somewhere near Atlantic City in the state of New Jersey around 20:00 (EST) in October 29 with a maximum wind speed of about 36 m/s (NOAA). The twoday rainfall was reported to have reached 160mm and the water level rose up to 4m (monthly mean rainfall: 88.1mm). The economic losses were estimated at 50 billion dollars (EQECA). Hurricane Sandy became the first hurricane of this size that ever hit New York since 1938. From several days before its landing, the city halted economic activities and repeatedly issued an evacuation advisory. The effort is thought to have resulted in saving disaster vulnerable people such as seniors and children while men in 50s marked the highest fatality in the disaster (Figure 1), which is very different from the case of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (GEJET). In addition, according to the New York City Police Department, the top cause of their deaths is accidents including electrocution, being hit by falling trees and traffic accidents, rather than drowning.

 

Urbanization as vulnerability: Even about one month after the disaster, some stations on two subway lines were still closed because they were still inundated by sea water. Also closed were many condominiums for retired seniors built on sunny, coastal areas. Even superhigh-rise condominiums at the tip of the Manhattan Island were closed, for their electric facilities had been flooded because they are in the basement. Consultants told me that only two buildings in Manhattan (one of them is Goldman Sachs’) survived a widespread inundation because they had taken flood prevention measures. The Gurdian reported that infrastructures were seriously damaged by flooding because prevention measures were largely ignored in New York despite that its disaster management committee had repeatedly warned of the city’s flood vulnerability in its reports since 2005.

Nuclear Power Plant: At the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant, a level-2 warning was issued regarding the storm; the warning was the second lowest of the four-level warning system currently employed for nuclear facilities in the United States. What surprised me was that there were no levees along the river that the plant uses for water intake and discharge (Photo 2). This reminded me of some nuclear facilities in Japan built by foreign constructors that have been pointed out for not having adequate protection against water hazards. Such facilities, though built in a different environment, may have been regulated in a similar way that they are regulated in the original environment.

Conclusion: In this investigation, I saw many cases that typically originated in the ignorance of taking necessary measures for urban vulnerability to certain hazards. It is very important that we should take a close look at the investigation results for lessons to improve urban resilience to various hazards such as a powerful inland earthquake expected to occur in the Tokyo metropolitan area and in other parts of Japan.

(Written by Megumi Sugimoto, Project led by Toshio Okazumi)