Red Cross volunteer says there's still plenty of work to do in Joplin
It's been nearly four months since an EF5 tornado tore through Joplin, decimating St. John's hospital, killing dozens and leaving hundreds of people homeless.
"And the need is still there. A year from now they will still need some things," to assist with daily life and recovery of the community, said Red Cross volunteer Chad Bailey, in a presentation to the Nevada Rotary Club on Thursday.
Bailey, who's also pastor of the Pine Street Baptist Church in Nevada, was involved with the Red Cross arm of the disaster response almost from the beginning, and continues to provide help and assistance through another Baptist church in the area, by taking groups down to serve food and distribute items such as diapers, baby food, toiletries and personal care items to people who still have no jobs and few resources beyond a place to stay.
"I only was involved in a very small part of it," but was proud to have helped.
The tornado struck on Sunday, May 22; and on May 23 Bailey got the call. His help was needed -- not in Joplin, but in Seneca, to open a shelter for people displaced by flooding. He passed through Joplin on the way to Seneca, and the need was obvious there, but a Red Cross shelter was needed elsewhere. That night, one family took advantage of the Seneca shelter. "We're there for one or for a thousand; that doesn't matter," Bailey said. The family spent the night and returned home with some assistance from the Red Cross.
That shelter closed, and Bailey and a handful of other volunteers went to Joplin to set up another shelter, this one at 18th and Gunner, just two blocks from the heart of the destruction. The Cattlemen's Association was serving meals to about 150 people, and Bailey's crew grew concerned; the shelter had no cots; but as time wore on, the shelter had no clients as well. By 10 p.m., still no clients had arrived, so since a 9 p.m. curfew was in place, they decided to close the shelter. Five boxes of snacks had arrived, for which the crew was thankful. Bailey later determined that a communication snafu had meant no one knew there was a shelter at that location.
"Communication was the biggest issue," Bailey said. There was some confusion as to who was in charge of what, and relief donations of all sorts were arriving unannounced. Although some cellular phones worked, others didn't. "If there are problems with communication, it gets chaotic," Bailey said; but clients did report they were glad relief workers were there, and from their point of view, efforts seemed well-organized.
Jim Bickel said he knows someone who was served by a shelter and it was that person's impression that the effort was "very well organized."
As truckloads of food, water and innumerable other items continued to arrive, "there was a point when we had to stop receiving things in. We were just overwhelmed," Bailey said; donations had to be managed and donors asked to send the specific items that were still needed.
"The response was wonderful," Bailey said.
Bailey went on to help with the shelter at Missouri Southern State University on Wednesday, where he worked in a dormitory serving about 180 people that night, down from the 350 the night before.
Security, he said, was a big issue. The small area surrounding each cot in a shelter is that person's private territory, and no one without authorization, not even media unless escorted by a Red Cross press representative, was allowed in. Not even the gentleman who arrived with a camera man could pass, Bailey told the man as he appeared poised to enter. The man turned out to be Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who was admitted to the facility after identifying himself -- without the camera man.
Meanwhile, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a variety of state agencies, and the Red Cross Safe and Well program were setting up temporary facilities to serve the broad variety of needs. A humane society shelter for animals also was in place, and the National Guard came in to take over much of the operational duties. During the next week, the chaos dwindled; and after about three weeks the shelter was able to downsize, with most people placed somewhere by the end of the first month with relatives, in other housing, including FEMA trailers and so forth.
Now, "It's progressively getting better, but it's a very slow process," Bailey said.
There's still a lot of debris, still many people without jobs, still a long road ahead of Joplin residents.
"Since we're so close," Bailey suggested, Nevadans could schedule visits to Joplin to help by serving a meal, or helping to maintain supplies still needed, like those diapers and hygiene products still being distributed.
What if it happened here?
Like many of the area's public safety officials, Bailey's spent some time thinking about how things might go if such a disaster happened in Nevada. It wouldn't be pretty.
Positioned in the right place, "It would have taken out the whole town," Bailey said. Places typically identified as shelters could be gone; another option would have to be found. But Bailey thinks one of the best ways to prepare would be to have a communication system in place should such an event happen in Nevada.