Is sand the best defense? Jersey Shore’s fate in powerful storms still uncertain 10 years later

• New Jersey has used sand as a coastal defense more than any other state in the last decade.
• The beach replenishment projects have cost $500 million in Monmouth and Ocean County alone.
• Critics argue beach replenishment is a band-aid solution on a worsening problem.

ASBURY PARK, N.J. — When New Jersey looked to salvage its battered coastline after superstorm Sandy hit on Oct. 29, 2012, engineers, politicians and federal officials turned almost immediately to the smallest particle on the shoreline: sand.

And it is a mind-boggling amount of sand. If you gave every person in the world a five-gallon bucket, had them fill it with sand 174,126 times and then dump it on the beaches here, that would equal the volume of the beige grains dumped on the Jersey Shore.