This has been a year of extreme weather and natural disasters. The massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan is still fresh in our memories but now we have other, more recent, storms, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tornadoes that just continue to defy our ability to to comprehend the level of destruction and loss. These pictures are from CBS News of the tornado in Joplin, Missouri, of May 22, 2011.
I've been to Joplin many times over the last six years or so and I don't recognize anything in these pictures. There are no landmarks left. One street looks just like another....all is devastation. People who survived the tornado can't recognize their own neighborhood. Their homes are gone. All of their stuff is gone. Dozens of families have lost someone...there are about 120 fatalities identified so far. Some churches are gone. The major regional hospital took a direct hit and is gone. Two firehouses are gone. Some schools are gone. Grocery stores, Walmart, Home Depot....gone.
I can't even begin to imagine how a family would cope with this. It is too much for our human brains to comprehend. Sixty percent of the school enrollment for the city is displaced and families are scattered and separated. About 1,500 people are still missing and authorities don't know if they are under the rubble or fled town or are wandering the streets. Cell phones don't work because the towers are gone.
I can only barely guess at the horrendous task the city and county government has to try to piece this town back together again. There are about 50,000 people living in Joplin and the infrastructure and municipal and county services are nearly wiped out. There is probably no one in city government that has experience with this. There is no large source of local money to help. FEMA is the only real hope for directing some sort of recovery...setting priorities...setting up shelters. Just from the look of the pictures, insurance companies are going to be hard pressed to manage the claim process...they can't find the cars or the houses or, in some cases, the people are missing.
A few years ago the town of Greenburg Kansas was hit by a category 5 tornado. This town had about 1,500 residents at that time and they lost 11 people in the storm. The entire town was destroyed. I went through Greenburg this last March on my way home from Albuquerque and was curious as to how they were recovering. The population is now around 700 people. The city is trying to come back as a LEED certified "green" city and they have built a new city hall and a few other public buildings. There are a few homes built that look like subsidized senior housing. There is a small new strip mall and only a few other buildings. It looks like they are trying hard to conform to their vision but I think the jury is still out on whether they will come back to be what they were before. One thing that is a potential problem is that there is another town just a few miles away that is larger and has a Walmart and some other businesses -- and jobs.
Joplin is in a similar position. It was a viable community but was struggling with the economy and the changes that have taken place in the local industry and mining operations. Carthage is a smaller city nearby and there are other cities in Oklahoma and Kansas that might siphon off some residents or jobs. The town is resilient and will come back. Like Greenburg, this might be an opportunity to reinvent the place. The people are there but do they have the energy, resources or leadership to bring it back? The sign scrawled on the front of the house says "We are OK here" and we can only hope and pray that they are after such a devastating event.
This has been a year of extreme weather and natural disasters. The massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan is still fresh in our memories but now we have other, more recent, storms, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tornadoes that just continue to defy our ability to to comprehend the level of destruction and loss. These pictures are from CBS News of the tornado in Joplin, Missouri, of May 22, 2011.
I've been to Joplin many times over the last six years or so and I don't recognize anything in these pictures. There are no landmarks left. One street looks just like another....all is devastation. People who survived the tornado can't recognize their own neighborhood. Their homes are gone. All of their stuff is gone. Dozens of families have lost someone...there are about 120 fatalities identified so far. Some churches are gone. The major regional hospital took a direct hit and is gone. Two firehouses are gone. Some schools are gone. Grocery stores, Walmart, Home Depot....gone.
I can't even begin to imagine how a family would cope with this. It is too much for our human brains to comprehend. Sixty percent of the school enrollment for the city is displaced and families are scattered and separated. About 1,500 people are still missing and authorities don't know if they are under the rubble or fled town or are wandering the streets. Cell phones don't work because the towers are gone.
I can only barely guess at the horrendous task the city and county government has to try to piece this town back together again. There are about 50,000 people living in Joplin and the infrastructure and municipal and county services are nearly wiped out. There is probably no one in city government that has experience with this. There is no large source of local money to help. FEMA is the only real hope for directing some sort of recovery...setting priorities...setting up shelters. Just from the look of the pictures, insurance companies are going to be hard pressed to manage the claim process...they can't find the cars or the houses or, in some cases, the people are missing. 
A few years ago the town of Greenburg Kansas was hit by a category 5 tornado. This town had about 1,500 residents at that time and they lost 11 people in the storm. The entire town was destroyed. I went through Greenburg this last March on my way home from Albuquerque and was curious as to how they were recovering. The population is now around 700 people. The city is trying to come back as a LEED certified "green" city and they have built a new city hall and a few other public buildings. There are a few homes built that look like subsidized senior housing. There is a small new strip mall and only a few other buildings. It looks like they are trying hard to conform to their vision but I think the jury is still out on whether they will come back to be what they were before. One thing that is a potential problem is that there is another town just a few miles away that is larger and has a Walmart and some other businesses -- and jobs. 
Joplin is in a similar position. It was a viable community but was struggling with the economy and the changes that have taken place in the local industry and mining operations. Carthage is a smaller city nearby and there are other cities in Oklahoma and Kansas that might siphon off some residents or jobs. The town is resilient and will come back. Like Greenburg, this might be an opportunity to reinvent the place. The people are there but do they have the energy, resources or leadership to bring it back? The sign scrawled on the front of the house says "We are OK here" and we can only hope and pray that they are after such a devastating event.
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