Hurricane Sandy reminded us of a lot: the need to prepare for disasters, the importance of having gratitude for simple things like a hot shower, and the amazing power of people to step in and help those in need. Many TED staff members joined the patchwork quilt of recovery efforts being initiated all over the city. TED’s own Thaniya Keereepart shared her experience organizing in Red Hook yesterday, while UX Lead Aaron Weyenberg headed to the Park Slope Armory in Brooklyn, where residents of several evacuated homes for the elderly have been living for days. Alanna Beckman of our Partnerships team helped set up the website Race2Recover.com, which allowed those who had booked hotels for the cancelled New York City Marathon to donate their rooms to those in need. Media production coordinator Gwen Schroeder compiled and shared a list of trusted sources for friends outside NYC who can’t just jump in a car and help but want to.

Yet still, we’re left asking:  What are the needs our community right now? Where are volunteers needed? Where should we give donations? Below, some links that may prove helpful in this ever-changing ecosystem.

If you’re looking for more information…

Websites that are constantly updating relief information:

• http://interoccupy.net/occupysandy/live/
• https://redhook.recovers.org
• https://lowereastside.recovers.org/
• https://astoria.recovers.org/
• https://statenisland.recovers.org/
• http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2012/oct/30/how-help-hurricane-sandy/

Some Twitter handles giving updates:

• @OccupySandy
• @SandyVolunteer
• @Brokelyn
• @RedHookInitiative
• @GoodShepherdNYC
• @NYCService
• @520ClintonOS

And some hashtags to read up on: 

• #sandyvolunteer
• #sandyaid
• #Rockaways
• #Redhook

If you’re looking for how to help, either by volunteering or giving donations:

Local organizations collecting donations:

Organizations you can donate to by text:

• Salvation Army: Text the word STORM to 80888 to make a $10 donation. To confirm the donation, respond with the word “Yes.”
• Red Cross: Text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross Disaster Relief. (If you change your mind, text the word STOP to 90999.)
• Tunnel2Towers: Text the word RESTORE to 80888 to make a $10 donation. To confirm the donation, respond with the word “Yes.”

Places to donate supplies:

• Please be aware that most locations are no longer accepting clothing donations. There is still, however, need for winter clothes (coats, hats, scarves, gloves, and socks), blankets, water, batteries (C, D, AA, AAA, 9 volt), flashlights, generators, candles, food (mostly prepared, though also non-perishable), vitamins for the elderly, insulin, baby items, pet food, toiletries, cleaning supplies (gloves, brooms, mops, bleach and paper towels). To find specific needs at specific donation centers, head to InterOccupy.net.
• Use Amazon’s Occupy Sandy registry to order specific supplies to be sent directly to Occupy Sandy at the Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew volunteer center in Clinton Hill. Supplies will be distributed from there.

Ways to donate your time:

• Here, an annotated Google map of locations in need of volunteers. The ones with green pins are accepting volunteers.
• To volunteer through Occupy Sandy, head to the St. Jacobi Church in Sunset Park. They will be dispersing volunteer groups to the areas in the biggest need. Find out more information at InterOccupy.net.
• On Tuesday, Nov. 6th from 10am to 4pm, donate blood at Duane Reade and Walgreens in Times Square at 1471 Broadway.
• Hurricane disruptions have also caused a shortage of platelets. Find information on platelet donation at NYBloodCenter.org.

Do you have information to share? Hit the comments below.

Hurricane Sandy is currently hovering over the Atlantic Ocean, threatening a large swath of the United States’ East Coast, from North Carolina to Maine. With coastal areas evacuated, wind and rainfall picking up quickly and many transportation systems shut down in anticipation of flooding, millions of people are currently at home, just waiting for roughest part of the storm to pass.

(The TED staff is included in this group, as our New York City office is located on the border of a flood zone. We will, however, be working from our apartments as long as the power permits.)

While you’re stuck at home, here are seven talks that seem especially fitting for today. And here’s hoping that this storm’s impact is far less severe than expected — though judging from the latest images, it doesn’t appear that will be the case.

Nathalie Miebach: Art made of storms
As anyone watching The Weather Channel for the past few days knows, weather data is complex. Artist Nathalie Miebach aims to make weather data understandable by turning it into sculptures and musical scores, to beautiful end.

Robert Krulwich: How much does a hurricane weigh?
Clouds are much heavier than one would think, explains Radiolab host Robert Krulwich in this NPR lesson. But hurricanes are unthinkably heavy, holding about 108 billion pounds of water. That’s the weight of 360,000 blue whales – more than there are on planet Earth.

Caitria and Morgan O’Neill: How to step up in the face of disaster
The O’Neill sisters were shocked when a tornado ripped through their hometown of Monson, Massachusetts, in 2011. In the days after the disaster, they realized just how unprepared their city was for a recovery effort. In this talk from TEDxBoston, the pair describe how they took action, building systems to organize volunteers and donations, and how they’ve codified their learnings at Recovers.org. (Read Caitria and Morgan’s “Hit by a natural disaster? The first 6 things to do for your community’s relief effort” on the TED Blog.)

George Kourounis: Our angry planet
George Kourounis has made it his mission to see the most dangerous places on earth for his television series Angry Planet. As Kourounis explains, “I try to find the art in the most destructive events on the planet.” At TEDxAthens, he explains how he photographs natural disasters, as well as why.

Vicki Arroyo: Let’s prepare for our new climate
New Orleans resident Vicki Arroyo, of the Georgetown Climate Center, says that it is time for us to get real about climate change — and to actively prepare our homes and cities for flooding, droughts and the increasing uncertainty of weather. In this talk from TEDGlobal 2012, she gives examples of communities that are effectively thinking ahead.

Jeremiah Warren: How are hurricanes named?
Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Andrew. How do these storms get their names? In this short video, Jeremiah Warren explains the order behind hurricane naming — that the first storm of the year gets a name that starts with the letter ‘A,’ the second gets one that starts with the letter ‘B’ and so on, with the most devastating storms having their names retired.

Rachel Kyte: Resilience in the face of natural disasters
Our world is experiencing twice as many natural disasters as in the past, says Rachel Kyte, the Vice President of Sustainable Development for the World Bank. And it’s overwhelming poor communities that bear the brunt of natural disaster deaths and damages. At TEDxSendai, Kyte stresses the importance of making disaster risk management part of building codes, and also forcing it to be a part of public discourse.

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Every part of the world is susceptible to natural disaster, but somehow, the quiet western part of Massachusetts steered clear over the years. In fact, in 2005, Slate.com declared inland Massachusetts one of the top three places in the United States “to hide from Mother Nature.”

So imagine the surprise when a series of surprise tornados slammed through Western and Central Massachusetts in June 2011, killing four and causing $200 million in damage.

One of the towns hit was Monson, Massachusetts, the hometown of sisters Caitria and Morgan O’Neill. While Caitria had just moved home after graduating from college, on a pit stop before beginning a master’s program in Moscow, Morgan was in Boston, studying (as it happens) atmospheric science at MIT. The two felt helpless as they watched a tornado wreak havoc on their town, knocking the steeple clear off the church across the street.

In this touching talk given at TEDxBoston, Caitria and Morgan tell the harrowing story of the tornado — and the day after, when they discovered just how unprepared their community was to coordinate a local recovery. The sisters decided to take action, building systems to organize volunteers and donations using two laptops and an AirCard.

After a disaster, people around the country want to help with donations of money, food and more. But as Caitria points out, after any disaster, 50 percent of all web searches on that disaster happen within just seven days. Meaning that a community has just a week to organize — in the thick of survival and clean-up efforts — to maximize donations and support.

Having gathered plenty of knowledge through experience, Caitria and Morgan are hoping to help more communities hit by natural disaster. Their first step: the website Recovers.org, which they call a “recovery in the box.”

So what should one do if their community is hit by a natural disaster? Below, Caitria and Morgan share the first six steps.

1. Recovery begins before a disaster. You need to prepare yourself, your family, and your community to survive at least 72 hours before rescue in an emergency. You can also start planning at the community level right now, speaking with community leaders about recovery plans and familiarizing yourselves with organizing tools. You can also tap into the knowledge of towns who have been through the recovery process before.

2. In the immediate aftermath of a disaster, care for yourself and your family first. Use the Red Cross’s Safe and Well program or Google’s Person Finder to announce that you are unharmed. Don’t rush directly into the disaster area with a shovel trying to help — professional first responders need time to make sure the area is safe before volunteers can come in. Try to send text messages instead of placing calls whenever possible, since the phone networks will be strained and emergencies need priority access.

3. Get online as soon as possible. Make a clear plan as a community to decide where you’ll be getting and sharing information. It is important to have a way to accept offers of money, labor and donations immediately — people will be searching online to help you, far before you’re able to accept that help in person. Facebook is a decent place for this, but our organization built a platform to directly meet all the different needs you’ll have — check it out at Recovers.org. It’s essential that the wider public has a clear place to offer donations and volunteer help while your area has the attention of the media cycle.

4. Find a place to organize massive amounts of people and volunteers. Again — people want to help, and if you can manage their time, you can turn that goodwill into useful aid. Think school parking lot, church with large basement, or function hall. Get the local hardware store or a neighbor to lend a generator. Post a call for volunteers on your webpage and open the floodgates.

5. Database or record everything. First, find out where the damage is by sending crews of volunteers to visually assess damage. (As long as it’s deemed safe! No walking near downed power lines or sneaking into totaled houses!) Inform homeowners of the services they can get from your group. Then, deploy volunteers to help with the cleanup. Be sure to have everyone sign waivers for safety reasons, and track what hours are being worked at what worksite. FEMA needs this information to process federal disaster aid, and it can make a big difference for the community.

6. Train seven of yourself. Disaster recovery at the community level is a logistical circus. You will burn out, and it is important that you hand off the torch before doing so. As your area transitions into long-term recovery, often grants are available through the United Way and other organizations to pay your long-term volunteers.

As long as you are organized, you don’t need to wait for a large organization to come in. You’re not alone — at least a few people in every area affected by disaster will step up and start putting the community back together again. We’re assembling a community of these “local organizing” veterans to share their best practices with others. Are you doing this kind of organizing in your community? Please get in touch with us on Recovers.org — we want to learn from you!