Some Disaster Relief Data

When Hurricane Sandy was hitting New York and our region on October 29, I felt it best to stay out of opining about the disaster if there wasn't some story about the storm's direct effect on financial services reference data issues—which there wasn't likely to be, other than the business continuity issues that would come up for the industry as a whole.

With the loss of life, the magnitude of the property damage and overall large scope of the story, it seemed more respectful to stay focused on data's business as usual, when and where that was happening. Now, however, as we enter the fourth week since the storm, there is some return to normalcy. Most but not all businesses around our office in Lower Manhattan have resumed activity, albeit with big loud generators outside their buildings in some cases.

Personally, I was fortunate and had no real disruptions due to the storm. It took a week or so for Incisive Media's offices to reopen, but communications capabilities allow work to be done remotely, so there weren't significant delays to the publication of our monthly print issue. Following Hurricane Sandy, the US holiday of Thanksgiving encourages us here to be especially thankful if we weren't harmed by recent events.

So, as we in the US take a break from day-to-day business, let's consider those who may still be trying to recover. The Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund and Hope For New York are two online destinations for those who want to help. The latter includes links to charities and efforts local to specific boroughs and neighborhoods of New York City.

And for our colleagues overseas, we hope you will join our efforts and lend your support. Golden Copy will return December 3.