New York City's Chinatown struggled over the weekend to replace possessions and restore peace of mind in the wake of superstorm Sandy, as merchants and residents took comfort in the return of basic services but also assessed their losses.

"It's a tragedy," said Zhang Shengbao, manager of New York Mart, one of the biggest Asian supermarkets in this section of storm-battered lower Manhattan. "We did prepare for Hurricane Sandy, but we didn't prepare for the blackout. It was absolutely unexpected."

Consolidated Edison Inc, the utility for most of the city, had warned customers in lower Manhattan shortly before shutting off electricity to their homes and businesses last Monday evening. Flooding forced the closure of the entire New York subway system, many lines of which converge near Chinatown.

Zhang's store reopened on Saturday, five days after losing power.

"Every freezer and refrigerator was full of food before the blackout, but now all of it has been thrown away because of spoilage," he said.

The Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, or CAAAV, a Chinatown civic group, dispatched volunteers to apartment complexes to check on residents and distribute necessities, helping the community get through the worst of Sandy's aftermath.

"Right after Sandy hit the city, I went to visit some community members and found they had received absolutely no information, such as whether there would be school, and when electricity and trains would be back in service," Helena Wong, CAAAV executive director, told China Daily.

Because many in the neighborhood aren't proficient in English, "we tried to fill the gaps as much as we could", she said.

"Now, with the lights coming back for most of Chinatown, our next step will be to send volunteers out on an ongoing basis to take care of people in need, based on a list prepared earlier," she said.

Wen Bo, a volunteer who co-founded a Facebook page titled "Chinatown Needs Our Help", said he was impressed by the response to the social-media outreach.

On Friday, more than 500 volunteers turned up with supplies and helped charge over 200 phones. Volunteers walked to about 100 buildings, approaching people in three different Chinese dialects, as well as in English and Spanish.

"I hadn't expected such a large number of people to show up and be supportive," Wen said. "All the volunteers came together as one community regardless of race, nationality or religion."

Heidee Tabudlong, a registered nurse was among those who pitched in. Just back from delivering water to residents, she told China Daily she was motivated by information posted online.

"I googled 'Hurricane Sandy relief' and this popped up," said Tabudlong, who needed almost two hours to get to Chinatown on the partially reopened subway and then transferring to buses, on which the fare was waived.

"I felt like it was just something one must do in times of crisis like this, like a calling," she said.

By late Saturday, power had been restored to most of lower Manhattan after four days in darkness. The area, including the core of New York City's financial services industry, was hammered by Sandy, one of the biggest, fiercest storms to hit the US East Coast.

The city and New York State were making the "transition to the reconstruction phase" after four days of rescue-and-recovery, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday.

The New York City Marathon was canceled for the first time since its inception in 1970. After a public outcry, race organizers said they didn't want to divert police, electricity and other resources from the post-storm cleanup and recovery effort.

The city, however, faces longer-term housing problems.

With most parts of damaged, saturated Manhattan getting power and water back over the weekend, many residents remained homeless. The cold weather moving in will make conditions even tougher.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Sunday that 30,000 to 40,000 residents of public housing will need new places to live.

He also compared Sandy to the devastation from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005.

"I don't know that anybody has ever taken this number of people and found housing for them overnight," Bloomberg said.

Cuomo said residents on New York's Long Island, as well as in New Jersey and Connecticut, face similar straits.

"This is going to be a massive, massive housing problem," he said.

Tourists visiting Manhattan found their trips hampered by the natural disaster and its effects.

The memorial and underground museum at the site of the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were closed for a sixth day on Saturday.

"This is one of the sites I would like to visit in New York, so it's too bad I'm not going to make it this time," said Eugene Elivera, a tourist from the Philippines who had hoped to visit the 9/11 Memorial on Saturday but found it was closed.

The memorial will remain closed until further notice while its staff assesses the damage.

Zhang Yuwei in New York contributed to this story.

yuwei12@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily 11/05/2012 page10)