New York: The day before Hurricane Sandy made landfall how worried someone was positively correlated with the amount of TV news bulletins (s)he watched. If the 24-hour news cycle was to be believed we were on a countdown to Armageddon.
But New Yorkers are a tough breed. Jason Torres who was running the Sugar Cafe in Lower Manhattan has been on his feet all morning because the restaurant has been flooded with customers. "This is business and life must go on," exclaimed Jason. The cafe was filled with tourists whose plans to explore the Big Apple have been rained on. According to a determined Jason, nothing short of the power being cut off would stop the restaurant from staying open today.
Still, after Hurricane Katrina and the underwear bomber fiasco, New Yorkers get the fact that it is better to be over prepared (and look silly) than be under prepared (and look incompetent). Residents of Manhattan, Vanna Pilgrim and Ceilidh Sanders were making the most of "hurricane happy hour" at their neighbourhood bar but were prepared for any eventuality. They have stocked up on water, batteries, flashlights, peanut butter, canned food and movies.
My morning has been chock-a block, filing hourly live reports on the expected ferocity of the tame sounding Sandy. Most journalists would agree that immediacy, proximity and prominence are some of the many elements make up what is considered "news." I am unclear why an Indian audience is interested in what is essentially a weather report from the US. I don't remember our own devastating floods in Assam getting this much coverage but if there is a lesson to be learnt here it is about the impeccable emergency preparedness and disaster management that has been put into place by the city's no nonsense mayor. But the real test will be how quickly New York responds to power outages, how quickly the subways are up and running again, how soon the garbage disposal trucks start making their rounds again, how quickly life returns to normal and the news coverage returns to the campaign trail.
But New Yorkers are a tough breed. Jason Torres who was running the Sugar Cafe in Lower Manhattan has been on his feet all morning because the restaurant has been flooded with customers. "This is business and life must go on," exclaimed Jason. The cafe was filled with tourists whose plans to explore the Big Apple have been rained on. According to a determined Jason, nothing short of the power being cut off would stop the restaurant from staying open today.
Still, after Hurricane Katrina and the underwear bomber fiasco, New Yorkers get the fact that it is better to be over prepared (and look silly) than be under prepared (and look incompetent). Residents of Manhattan, Vanna Pilgrim and Ceilidh Sanders were making the most of "hurricane happy hour" at their neighbourhood bar but were prepared for any eventuality. They have stocked up on water, batteries, flashlights, peanut butter, canned food and movies.
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My morning has been chock-a block, filing hourly live reports on the expected ferocity of the tame sounding Sandy. Most journalists would agree that immediacy, proximity and prominence are some of the many elements make up what is considered "news." I am unclear why an Indian audience is interested in what is essentially a weather report from the US. I don't remember our own devastating floods in Assam getting this much coverage but if there is a lesson to be learnt here it is about the impeccable emergency preparedness and disaster management that has been put into place by the city's no nonsense mayor. But the real test will be how quickly New York responds to power outages, how quickly the subways are up and running again, how soon the garbage disposal trucks start making their rounds again, how quickly life returns to normal and the news coverage returns to the campaign trail.
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