In our modern age we are used to shake-n-bake solutions. When there is a system failure the restoration process is expected to come quickly. The hard reality is that when infrastructure is damaged, be it public or private, the recovery period can be very long. Longer yet if there are design considerations and efforts to prevent the damages from occurring again.
See the NPR story Bellevue Hospital's Slow Comeback After Superstorm Sandy
The impact to peoples' lives and their feelings of self-worth have been impacted. Much of that comes from the slow process of having all the hospital systems functioning so that they can provide the topnotch medical services that they previously had furnished.
There are some key points made when talking to the hospital's engineer. They are taking some steps to mitigate a future storm, but they can't do everything at once and remain in business--so they are setting priorities. Those things that can be moved more easily are being moved out of the basement. Others will need to remain. Perhaps they can put other mitigation measures in place for the ones that didn't work the last time.
Everyday people are making choices about what their level of disaster readiness will be. Some are not considering it at all--which is of course, a choice.
