奥巴马慰问纽约灾民
US President Barack Obama has consoled bereaved residents in areas of New York that still have no electricity 17 days after the deadly super-storm Sandy.
美国总统奥巴马慰问了超级风暴仙蒂过后17天仍未通上电的部分纽约地区居民。
Mr Obama took a helicopter tour of Breezy Point, a neighbourhood in Queens where about 100 homes were razed in a fire during the storm.
He also met residents at an emergency response centre in Staten Island.
More than 100 people were killed in the US as a result of Sandy, 43 of them in New York.
As of Tuesday, 25,000 people were still without electricity, mostly in New York.
Insurance firms pressurised
Outages were especially dangerous in the city's low-income public housing complexes, where some elderly and infirm people have found it hard or impossible to leave their homes.
Staten Island was among the hardest-hit areas, as record storm surges flooded the island borough.
Mr Obama spoke in front of several damaged homes in Staten Island, vowing to stick with New Yorkers "until the rebuilding is complete".
He said he was designating Shaun Donovan, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and a native New Yorker, to help.
At the emergency centre at a Staten Island high school, residents stood in line for supplies, a place to warm up or take a hot shower. They also queued to file claims with insurance companies.
The White House reported that about 1,500 people had received services at the centre as of Monday, one of several in affected areas.
Mr Obama called on insurance companies to "show some heart and some spirit in helping people rebuild".