Hayden Phillips

11/6/12

JOUR 271

576 Words

                                 New Jerseyans around the country stay "Jersey Strong"

            Nobody knew that a town like Oxford, all the way down in Mississippi, could be affected by a storm that hit our country in the very top right corner over one thousand miles away. The University of Mississippi has over 40 students that call New Jersey home and many of their families have been hit hard.

            “The Jersey shore is gone, childhood memories are gone and it will take years to rebuild but we will rebuild and recover. A motto we like to use is ‘Jersey Strong’," said Alex LoMauro, a senior at Ole Miss from New Providence, NJ.

            Ole Miss students from New Jersey that I have talked to have told me of the distress that Hurricane Sandy has pushed on their families over the past week and a half and the government is doing all they can to recover.

            According to James Salmon in an article from Lexis Nexis, last year was the second most costly for natural catastrophe claims in history with a total bill of 67 billion dollars. This included the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the earthquake in New Zealand and the floods in Thailand.

            Last week’s extreme weather in the United States is expected to cost the insurance industry around 12 billion dollars. This would make it the third only to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

            The Governor of New Jersey, Chris Kristie, held his press conference yesterday in the city of Keansburg to address the issue. Ole Miss senior, Michael Sheehan, is from Keansburg and said that his home was out of power for a week, has flood damage, and needs a new roof. Sheehan said that they had it easy compared to his neighbors.

            There was much devastation in the southern part of the state. Chaka Fattah has introduced an act to congress in hopes for it to help in recovery. It is titled the Hurricane Sandy Recovery and Rebuilding Supplemental Appropriations Act and will be subsequently determined by the speaker according to Proquest Congressional.

            There are many families that need the help. Ole Miss student, Sara Dembek, from Little Falls, New Jersey, and LoMauro of New Providence both had plenty of damage done to theirs near the coast.

            “My hometown was destroyed and my family was without power for a week and also my family shore house down at the beach was completely destroyed,” said Dembek.

            Hurricane Sandy killed 113 people. According to an article titled “Disaster Response” from CQ researcher, experts are pushing for new preventive measures, better coordination by the government and an end to the all-too-human assumption that “It can’t happen here.” We need to be more prepared for natural disasters.

            Richard Starmann, who currently works in the field of crisis consulting, has accomplished many things in his life from serving in Vietnam to handling crisis management for McDonald’s. He talks about what to do in the midst of and in preparing for disasters.

            “In a crisis, people are in denial. They are paralyzed. They think that it will go away. Often times I try to get people to understand what is going to happen, what is happening, and what did happen,” Starmann said.

            A couple of other students at Ole Miss including AJ Lapsley from Morristown, NJ and Jake Finnen from Chatham, NJ have families that have been affected by Hurricane Sandy. We, as a University, need to offer support and help the names given and many more fight through their struggles. 

A symbol on the University of Mississippi campus representing the strength of the student body especially in times of need.