BY MARY JANE DITTMAR
In the months that have passed since Sandy made landfall in the New York-New Jersey area last October, rebuilding efforts have been taking place but there is still much to be done to bring residents, fire departments, and municipalities anywhere near the "normalcy" they had known before Sandy. Geographic configurations in some areas have been changed forever. Rebuilding will be a much more sober, deliberate process in that storm-resistant codes and proven "defensive" strategies, such as employing substantial sand dunes and high fences to protect the coastline and designing and building structures that will better withstand the assaults of storm water and winds, will be part of the preconstruction dialogue.
To this end, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was offering on April 15-17 (around press time) "Coastal Construction Courses" at Rutgers University's CAIT Auditorium in Piscataway, New Jersey. Sponsored by FEMA's Building Science and New Jersey Joint Field Office, the courses-"Introduction to Coastal Foundation Design," "Construction for Design Professionals," and "FEMA Best Practices for Flood and Wind Mitigation"-were targeted at New York and New Jersey engineers, architects, code officials, and building inspectors. Information on additional FEMA Building Science resources related to Hurricane Sandy is available athttp://www.fema.gov/building-science/hurricane-sandy-building-science-activities-resources.
If you are a current subscriber,login hereto access this content.
If you would like to become a subscriber, please visit ushere.
