When Superstorm Sandy hit, residents of the Red Hook Houses, the largest public housing development in Brooklyn with over 7,000 residents, struggled without power and clean water for almost a month. Instead of waiting for help, residents and civic groups, transformed themselves from storm victims to storm responders. Meet the local leaders that are stepping up to the plate and taking emergency preparedness into their own hands including installing and expanding a free, solar-powered Wi-Fi network to make sure that communication is always possible when disaster strikes. With climate change, sea level rise, and another superstorm always threats, they’re making sure that Red Hook is hooked up.
TRANSCRIPT
[Upbeat music playing]
DABRIAH: I've actually
been here all my life,
like I grew up here.
I grew up in the Red Hook
Houses.
And it wasn't as popular
an area as it is now.
DABRIAH: My parents are
still here.
A lot of my friends are
still here.
It's home.
[Sirens sound]
DABRIAH: So much water
just going down the street
and it's to the point where it
picks up cars and starts
to carry the cars.
And it was just the
scariest thing.
TEVINA: We were the
buildings that were
without electricity,
water, heat,
everything for about 29
days, straight.
And it was horrendous.
JILL: The majority of
residents in public
housing did not have
internet access in their
home.
DABRIAH: We felt like we
were cut off.
ROBERT: Like I couldn't
make a call,
I couldn't text.
None of that stuff.
DABRIAH: We had all of
these people flooding into
the community including
FEMA.
How do we communicate?
TEVINA: Whoever was
able-bodied,
we were the ones that went
up and down bringing up
supplies.
We would give a list to
the doctor of residents
who we knew were either
homebound or had medical
issues.
We just did whatever came
to mind.
DABRIAH: We had to figure
out how to come together
and be okay after that.
JILL: The Red Hook
Initiative is a community
center.
We've been in the
neighborhood for 15 years.
The morning of the storm,
many of our staff came to
just check on the building
and walked in to find it
was as if nothing had
happened here.
There was electricity,
the phones were working.
So it really transformed
overnight to responding to
the the emergency needs in
the neighborhood.
DABRIAH: So I always say
this is a case of
something being built
before we knew it needed
to be built.
JILL: We realized that
there was an opportunity
here to train young
people.
They could be the ones
building and maintain that
network.
ROBERT: I knew nothing
about networking,
computer networking,
or wireless networking.
And I ended up really
liking it a lot.
ROBERT: So this device is
speaking to a device
that's on the building
right over there.
And that device is getting
an internet connection
over there.
So instead of us having to
run a cable,
a physical cable,
from this site to that
site,
we're doing it all
wirelessly through the
air.
JILL: So when the storm
hit and communication was
completely down in the
neighborhood,
FEMA had done some online
research and said we
believe there's a group in
the neighborhood that has
the backbone for a mesh
network.
And so they were able to
bring some equipment and
really activate a network
that had been just built.
During those few weeks
after the storm,
there were about 1000
people per day that were
accessing internet through
this free wireless
network.
DABRIAH: So to build
something and not even
know that it would end up
being such an important
tool in recovery and
resilience.
That was the saving grace,
you know, Wi-Fi,
of all things was the
saving grace.
ROBERT:I think the flow of
information is extremely
important.
Knowing where like,
water level is
at a time during disaster,
or knowing where to get
food and stuff after a
disaster,
being able to communicate
to your loved ones that
they know that you're
fine.
Like I feel like that's
super important.
JILL: When we think back
on Hurricane Sandy and
everything that happened,
there are also some good
things that came out of
that that have really
helped to build both the
social and physical
infrastructure in the
neighborhood,
recognizing the power of
people, of local people.
And so we also developed
the Local Leaders program
with the goal of training
Red Hook residents in
emergency management.
TEVINA: It just made us
aware that things are
happening in our
environment and we should
pay attention to it.
JILL: There have been 200
graduates of the program.
Compared to sea walls or
massive infrastructure
projects,
this is something that's
not very expensive to run.
It's really creating
empowering people and I
think it is replicable in
other communities on the
waterfront.
DABRIAH: Bigger storms are
coming.
And remember the
importance of banding
together with you know the
residents of your
community,
with your family.
The people that are on the
ground with you.
Those are the people you
work with,
those are the people you
build with.
