No help for the Poor of Rockaways

Dear Governor Cuomo and Mayor Bloomberg,


We write first to thank you for your dedication to the constituents of this City and your support
in addressing the unprecedented crisis of Hurricane Sandy.

While there has been an incredible outpouring of help and attention to our friends and neighbors struggling throughout the five boroughs, we have learned in recent days that constituents of Queens in the Rockaways and Hamilton Beach, home to approximately 80,000 people, continue to live without vital necessities. 


As concerned citizens of New York City and neighbors to those worst affected by the storm, the
groups who have signed below would like to know the steps being taken to address these areas
and, more importantly, to offer our assistance as you and your agencies increase emergency
efforts.

From current communication with those in the field, we have assessed that thousands of
residents have little or no access to the following resources:

Electricity
Heating
Food and nutrient supplements
Fuel
Supplemental generators
Means of evacuation
Reliable cell service
Batteries
Security
Physicians and medicine

In public housing towers, people have resorted to using gas cooking stoves to stay warm, risking
asphyxiation in the higher levels of the towers.

In addition, in parts of the area there is insufficient access to FEMA, Red Cross, and military assistance networks.

From The Inquisitr


As CNN reported, Rockaway Peninsula residents are still in the dark 11 days after Hurricane Sandy made landfall. Many of these resident have sought emergency shelter and waited in long lines for gas.

The failure of Hurricane Sandy relief efforts had led to a rise of grassroots activism. Occupy Sandy, an offshoot of last year’s Occupy Wall Street movement, have organized several relief drives using social media.