It’s Marathon Sunday without the Marathon and that feels right. While I’m all for uplifting spectacle, this is not the time for a running race that exemplifies man’s ability to push past obstacles. It would have been a great metaphor but a hollow one in the face of this particular catastrophe that requires all our resources to bring the city and state back.
The aftermath of Superstorm Sandy is a marathon of a different sort.
WNYC reported yesterday that some marathoners in town for the race will run as a way to bring supplies to storm damaged areas in the region. Early this morning, there was a 6km run/relief effort planned from 61 Local in Cobble Hill to Red Hook.
Reports from Red Hook are mixed: there is suffering but also a great deal of help finally pouring into that waterlogged and power-less community. The idea that 3,000 residents of the Red Hook Houses, 30 14-story buildings that house 6,000, will continue without power and water for another week or ten days is unacceptable. Let’s hope Con Edison can bring power back to Red Hook more swiftly. In the short term, FEMA generators would be a big help.
There are elderly and disabled individuals in those buildings that need medical services and other kinds of help. Many are terrified to be in their apartments after dark.
Parts of Staten Island, Long Island and New Jersey still look like war-torn countries. Last night someone told me that the storm damaged areas in New York State and New Jersey are equal to the size of Europe.
The scale of this disaster is unfathomable. That said, progress is being made though it is “fractured” as the New York Times reports today. As time passes and the recovery efforts lag in some areas, anger heightens and people living in areas still without power and water feel disenfranchised and bitter.
On Monday most New York City schools will be open. The subways seem to be back with some exceptions. Lower Manhattan is bright again. I am hoping that this week brings some comfort to those who have suffered inordinately this past week and have endured a marathon of a different sort.