No M'sians faced 'life-threatening situation'

Malaysian citizens living on the east coast of the United States which was devastated by Hurricane Sandy, did not face a "life-threatening situation", according to the Malaysian consul general here.

Making an assessment of the events of the past week that has witnessed an upheaval of unprecedented proportion, Syed Bakri Syed Abdul Rahman, said he was "very sad" at the images of destruction to lives and property caused by the hurricane.

"Yes, I am very sad at all the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. I hope people will find the strength and courage to recover fast and return to normal life.

"Of course, there have been cases of Malaysians facing inconvenience resulting from the widespread outage, particularly, in New York and New Jersey. Losing power supply, particularly as we go into the cold season, can be difficult," Syed Bakri said.

The Malaysian consulate general which remained closed for some days early last week, as Hurricane Sandy intensified and disrupted not only power supply but also brought traffic and public transportation to a grinding halt, re-opened last Thursday.

But some Malaysian officials from other government agencies in New York have been forced to seek temporary accommodation in hotels as their homes remained cut off from power supply and unable to perform their simple chores in the midst of total darkness and severe cold.

Arham Abdul Rahman, Director of the New York office of the Malaysia Industrial Development Authority (MIDA), has not been able to stay in his rented house in Fort Lee in New Jersey which had, as of Sunday, not received any power supply.

Arham had no choice but to move with his family to the safety of a hotel room after getting approval from the MIDA head office in Kuala Lumpur.

"It was completely dark and extremely cold in our house which has been without power supply for almost a week. We are currently lodged in a hotel until such time power supply is restored," Arham told Bernama.

Like Arham, other Malaysian officials based in New York have also sought temporary shelter in hotel rooms.

While New York has accelerated the pace to overcome the challenges posed by the outage, New Jersey, which has faced the brunt of the fury of Hurricane Sandy, continues to reel under the devastation.

As of Sunday, the sixth day after Hurricane Sandy's "visit", hundreds of thousands of households in New Jersey still remain in pitch darkness and extremely low temperatures.

Some towns in New Jersey have witnessed all the trapping of Sandy's fury: huge trees uprooted, entire houses dislodged from their base and washed away into the Atlantic Ocean before the eyes of horrified owners, many of whom said they were lucky not to be in their houses when Sandy struck.

The countenance of Hoboken, the birth place of Frank Sinatra, the American entertainment icon, was beyond recognition.

This quaint little town in New Jersey, bordering New York City, experienced huge floods at many of its busy streets, usually brimming with shoppers, turning it into a deserted ghost town covered under a blanket of pitch darkness as all the lamp-posts on the streets did not function for most part of the week.

"Satay", a popular Malaysian restaurant on Hoboken's busy Washington Street and a haunt of yuppies, remained closed for the sixth day. The restaurant, which claims to offer "genuine" Malaysian cuisine, is also frequented by Malaysian students from neighbouring Steven's Institute of Technology where a large number of Malaysian students are pursuing various technology subjects.

But many remained confident that "Satay" like the cluster of Malaysian-owned restaurants in downtown Manhattan, which have begun to re-open, will also very soon open its doors to its guests.