Demolition Debris Still Litters Some Homes in the Neighborhood
This was a poignant and critical taste of academic service learning for me. I was trying for weeks to image from the comfort of my apartment on a hill in Manhattan that will never see flood damage (unless it is the end of times….) what the people of coastal neighborhoods went through. I never made the effort to swipe my metro card and go see for myself, until now. Seeing things for yourself and trying to find even a brief (15 minute) relationship with someone in the neighborhood (thanks to the local volunteers and very gracious home owners) places such a tragedy into your own sphere of reference, which is something to build upon to take positive steps for the future.
Most important to me was the time listening on the door step or in the foyer to the experience of that night in October, the strong belief that nothing was going to happen in that neighborhood, the sudden realization (to late) that it was happening, the fear and stress of water rising at your doorstep and not knowing when it would stop or go away. I definitely needed to hear this to have any sense at all what they went through and are still going through.
In regard to emergency preparedness for the future, communication of quality information, neighborhood by neighborhood, is the most fundamental requirement. The survey sparked strong and thoughtful responses from the residents as they turned their experience into a learning opportunity for everyone. This perhaps I appreciated most of all.
Your words, “unless it was the end of time” made a big impact on me when I read them. So many people felt that they would never flood especially if they never flooded before. So many in my community, including me felt the same way. Fortunately I did not flood but instead my home became an evacuation center of sorts.
My community is mostly back to normal now but looking over my journal from the days and weeks following the storm I was reminded of the drone of the generators, the roar of the sirens and presence of the National Guard all too vividly. Now, aside from the random dumpsters and the new found friendships life is back to normal.
Like you, visiting Sheepshead Bay, brought a new perspective of the reality of what too many people are still experiencing. Though our project was not designed to change their current struggles, I hope our efforts will bring safety and security to the people living in such a quaint community and all of Sheepshead Bay in the future.
Thanks, Jason. My neighborhood was also essentially unaffected by Sandy. The images and reports in the news at the time struck home for me, but it’s easy to forget when life is carrying on as normal all around you. Getting a feeling in my gut for what it was like to live through the experience in Sheepshead Bay, and dealing with the aftermath every day since, was definitely the most powerful and lasting affect of this experience for me.