Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




DISASTER MANAGEMENT
New York governor seeks $30 bn in aid after Sandy
by Staff Writers
New York (AFP) Nov 12, 2012


UN seeks $39 mn more in Haiti aid after Sandy
Geneva (AFP) Nov 12, 2012 - The United Nations on Monday called for an extra $39 million (31 million euros) in aid to help Haiti recover from Hurricane Sandy's passage across the Caribbean last month that left dozens in the country dead and thousands homeless.

The additional amount will bring the UN's total aid request for the impoverished country to $151 million, according to Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA.

"An additional $39 million is required to address rising food insecurity and provide shelter, health services and potable water for over a million people," OCHA said in a statement.

"Of this, $22 million is needed to meet the most urgent needs in 2012."

Hurricane Sandy struck Haiti late last month, flooding the country and leaving 54 people dead and thousands of others homeless, according to OCHA.

Haitian health authorities have also recorded a resurgence of cholera following the hurricane, adding new woes to a country that is still rebuilding after a massive 2010 earthquake that leveled much of the capital, killed more than 200,000 people and left hundreds of thousands of others homeless.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo asked the US federal government for $30 billion in aid Monday to help his state recover from the devastation left by superstorm Sandy.

The requested funds will help rebuild the economy, infrastructure, housing, public buildings and small businesses, Cuomo told reporters in stressing the "cataclysmic" nature of the storm that killed more than 110 people.

"This is an economy that is important not just for the state, this is an economy that is important for the country," Cuomo said. "The sooner we get the New York economy running, the better for this state and this nation."

His request comes three days before President Barack Obama tours the areas hit hard by the storm that blasted ashore with hurricane force on October 29, triggering major floods and tidal surges in New York and New Jersey.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg meanwhile announced a $500 million emergency plan to repair 37 public schools and three public hospitals closed since Sandy.

Despite major progress, tens of thousands of homes and businesses remain without power, and thus unable to heat the buildings during sometimes frigid temperatures in the city and its suburbs.

"Our city has never experienced a storm as destructive as Hurricane Sandy, and financing for these repairs is as necessary as is it urgent," Bloomberg said, adding that the city could not wait for the release of federal aid funds.

"These school buildings and public hospitals are resources that hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers rely on every day... This emergency capital spending is vital investment in our recovery and future."

The schools currently closed are attended by about 26,000 students, who were forced to move to other institutions with their teachers.

About 74,300 customers -- homes, general buildings and private companies -- remained without power, and more than half of those were in areas flooded by the storm, such as Long Island and the Rockaways area of the New York borough of Queens, the Long Island Power Authority said.

LIPA, harshly criticized for its response to the disaster, insisted that 10,000 people were working around the clock to return power to customers.

But in some cases, installations were too badly damaged to function again and additional repairs and tests were needed.

Flood-ravaged areas of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island "cannot get electrical service until their own internal equipment is repaired, tested and certified by an electrician as ready for service," according to utility Con Edison.

Bloomberg has yet to indicate when fuel rationing will end for New York.

In neighboring New Jersey, a similar measure was put in place on November 3, but it was set to be lifted on Tuesday.

"Now it's time to get back to normal & back to work," New Jersey's Republican governor Chris Christie said in a Twitter message.

Obama, re-elected last week, interrupted his campaign for four days in the wake of the storm.

Though he did not go to New York, he did visit New Jersey on October 31, touring the wreckage with Christie in what proved to be an unexpectedly welcome photo op for the Democratic president less than a week before polling day.

.


Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
A world of storm and tempest
When the Earth Quakes






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Commentary: Sandy's S.O.S.
Washington (UPI) Nov 12, 2012
Polish-born nuclear physicist Marcin Jakubowski and his small band of acolytes are holed up in rural Missouri working on a "civilization starter kit." Bloomberg Businessweek headlines the experiment "The Post-Apocalypse Survival Machine Nerd Farm." Is this the future of American innovation? asks the magazine. The answer might be affirmative after reading the same issue's cover li ... read more


DISASTER MANAGEMENT
China's Chang'e-3 to land on moon next year

Moon crater yields impact clues

Study: Moon basin formed by giant impact

NASA's LADEE Spacecraft Gets Final Science Instrument Installed

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Mars orbiter back online after system swap

What Arctic Rocks Say About Mars: An Interview with Hans Amundsen

More Driving And Imaging At 'Matijevic Hill'

Curiosity Team Switches Back to Earth Time

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Get some bed rest - all 21 days of it

Latest China military hardware displayed at airshow

Obama Win Keeps NASA's Space Plans on Course

Next steps into the final frontier

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Mr Xi in Space

China plans manned space launch in 2013: state media

China to launch manned spacecraft

Tiangong 1 Parked And Waiting As Shenzhou 10 Mission Prep Continues

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Crew Prepares for Spacewalk After Progress Docks

Crew Preparing for Cargo Ship, Spacewalk

Russian cargo ship docks with ISS: official

Packed Week Ahead for Six-Member Crew

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Arianespace's fourth Spaceport mission with Soyuz ready for fueling

Ariane 5's sixth launch of 2012

Ariane 5 is poised for Arianespace's launch with the EUTELSAT 21B and Star One C3 satellites

Ariane 5 orbits EUTELSAT 21B and Star One C3 satellites

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Discovery of a Giant Gap in the Disk of a Sun-like Star May Indicate Multiple Planets

New habitable zone super-Earth found in exosolar system

Cosmic sprinklers explained in active planetary nebula

Nearby six-planet system could be life friendly

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Microsoft holds Windows Phone 8 hopes

Making a better invisibility cloak

Head of Windows unit leaves Microsoft

Online TEDTalks hit billion-view milestone




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement