A third of Joplin lies in tattered ruins. Stunned families pick among torn timbers of destroyed houses salvaging what remains usable. Many are in temporary shelters. Goodness knows how many of them will find a house or an apartment anytime soon — or how they will replace furniture, appliances, bed clothes and all the other necessities of life when they do. Those employed in destroyed businesses will be without an income until recovery builds a new Joplin. They will be dependent on savings, on family not in the tornado’s path, on government and charities for what will seem ages.
Iola could be torn to shreds as Joplin was. We also live in tornado country. How should we prepare?
First, help Joplin. Thrive Allen County responded almost before the sirens stopped sounding. The Red Cross always is on the front line of emergency responders. So is the Salvation Army. Churches here are helping churches there. Turn your urge to help into action.
Then check your own preparation plans thoroughly. A basement is the safest place. But a basement can be a trap if the ceiling is not reinforced. The walls can fall through the floor into the basement and bury those seeking refuge there. Prepare.
Inside closets can be made into safe-rooms with reinforcements. Vehicles are not safe places in tornadoes. Many of Joplin’s dead were crushed in their cars, trucks and SUVs. You can’t outrun a tornado.
Take storm warnings seriously.
As a community, Iola should do a better job of publicizing the location of the public storm shelters and making certain that they will be open to the public if a storm approaches after business hours or on weekends.
In Joplin, St. John’s Regional Medical Center was hit dead center by the EF5 tornado with wind speeds at 200 miles an hour. Windows were blown out on every floor. Five people in the hospital were killed. Gas and water lines were ruptured. There was no electric power, even the emergency generators failed. A MASH unit was set up outside the hospital to treat the hundreds of injured.
Emergency service doctors there discovered they had to return to the shattered and dangerous hospital to get a supply of pain medicines. Perhaps that experience carries a lesson. Should an emergency supply of pain-killers, anesthetics, splints, oxygen, bandages and whatever be stashed in some safe place away from the hospital in case what happened in Joplin happened here?
Where would Iola put families left homeless by destructive winds? Floods usually give a community time to plan. A tornado does not.
Planning guided by professionals is the way to prevent the panic that produces confusion and compounds the damage done by an emergency. There is absolutely nothing Iola or any other community can do to prevent a tornado from striking. Science has found no way to prevent or moderate such storms.
All a family or a community can do is prepare. We certainly should.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
