NOTES FROM JOPLIN

Here are some notes from our humanitarian trip to Joplin this weekend.

Our stake was asked to provide 200 volunteers for Saturday and Sunday, and ended up with somewhere around 350 people who spent two days in Joplin helping out wherever possible. While we were there we also ran across volunteers from the Springfield and Kansas City stakes. I have no idea how many people came from those areas to help, but my guess is that there were possibly 700-900 volunteers from the LDS church in Joplin over the weekend. The church has a distinctive yellow shirt that the volunteers wear. This is partly for communications and coordination of work efforts, but also partly for public relations. There were of course many, many other people there helping out (especially on Saturday). There were literally thousands of people out doing whatever they could to help out. Most of them from other church denominations, but also from businesses and some individuals with no other affiliation.

The thing that struck me most about the tornado destruction was the sheer size of the devastation. The tornado was on the ground for a long time. There is a path about 1/2 to 3/4 mile wide where literally everything was destroyed. The sad and amazing this is that the destruction just went on and on and on -- for more than 6 miles right through the middle of town. This was a category F5 (wind speeds in excess of 200 MPH), and to make matters worse it was a slow-moving storm. It stayed on the ground for a long time and didn't move quickly, so there were no buildings in the direct path that could withstand the power of the storm.

It was incredible that you could drive through town and everything looked normal. Then in the next block you start to see shingles missing from the roofs, followed quickly by damage to the exterior of the buildings, broken windows, and trees down everywhere. In the next block the roofs were missing completely, followed quickly by houses moved from their foundations and missing walls. Then in the next block there was utter destruction with nothing standing. The scene went from normal to total destruction in 2 blocks or less, and these were short blocks.

The volunteers of course could do nothing for those in the direct path. The only solution there is to bulldoze everything and start over. We spent our time with people on the fringes of the storm -- in the 2 block area on either side of the path. At one house we helped a lady move out her washer, dryer, freezer, and some personal belongings into her mother's house a couple of miles away. At another house we helped cleanup from the ceiling collapsing. Many houses had damage to their roofs and it rained all week. So, before somebody could put up tarps to keep the rain out temporarily, the rain came in soaked the insulation and sheet rock. Wet sheet rock with heavy insulation on it doesn't hold up well. At several other houses we cleaned up some of the debris and material in the yards. In the photos you can see that everything gets stacked up by the street so that crews can come by later to haul it all away somewhere. We were told to stack everything within 10 feet of the curb (but not in the street). It will takes months and maybe years to get all the debris hauled away. Sometimes we were on the ground with chainsaws removing trees that had fallen or were about to fall. Sometimes we were on the roofs nailing tarps for rain protection. Sometimes we were inside moving, cleaning, or carrying out stuff. We were also able to distribute a small amount of donated hygiene kits, cleaning kits, and food.

Please click on the links below for pictures.
https://picasaweb.google.com/Martell.Morrison/20110528Joplin#
https://picasaweb.google.com/Martell.Morrison/20110530#

I am so thankful for having a home with a roof overhead and electricity! I am thankful for many family and friends because there are many without either. I am so thankful for the thousands of volunteers who left safe homes to help out with those in need. I am thankful for many family and friends because there are many without either. There are many good people in the world!

Marty Morrison