The Hurricane Sandy place report: Evacuation decisions, housing issues and sense of community

This report is one of the four-part 2015 Briefing Report Series of the Sandy Child and Family Health (S-CAFH) Study. Reports in the series describe the impact of Hurricane Sandy on several key aspects of New Jersey resident’s lives. This Place Report focuses on the decisions and actions related to evacuation, housing, community, and restoration and repair. It documents the storm’s impact on PLACE in New Jersey residents’ lives, with a particular emphasis on Sandy’s effect on people’s homes and housing decisions. Any effort to facilitate good decision-making on the part of New Jersey residents, whether it involves evacuation decisions, restoration decisions, or financial decisions, should be predicated on timely and targeted messaging. It provides data on the decisions and actions that residents adopted in the face of the impending storm and throughout the recovery period. This information should help inform officials and stakeholders as they develop even more effective communication campaigns. Assuring safe and stable housing is one of the most important individual and collective goals after a catastrophic disaster. Individuals and families rely upon homes for shelter, sanctuary, and often as a significant economic asset; in turn, communities rely upon a strong housing base as a means of maintaining or enhancing political strength and community resilience, as well as serving as linchpins for social and economic growth. While many residents in New Jersey’s Disaster Footprint are making substantial progress in rebuilding their homes and communities, there are clearly still pockets of damage and disruption, even two and a half years after the storm.This document is briefing report number 1