Category Archives: Tornado

From April 25-28, an estimated 305 tornadoes touched down in the U.S., more than any three day period on record (surveys are still confirming the exact number). On April 26-27, in one 24 hour period, 190 tornadoes touched down, setting the record for the largest outbreak of tornadoes in a single day (map here).  The previous record for multi-day outbreak from a single storm system was set just two weeks earlier, when 155 tornadoes touched down. Together, these storms left communities in ruins and claimed more than 350 lives.

When disasters of this magnitude take place, people swing into action. Most all of it is good intentioned. People want to help. But sometimes our actions can make the situation worse. This kind of usually well intentioned but ultimately problematic behavior takes two basic forms: donating items that are not useful or showing up to help without being completely self-sufficient.

Every disaster spawns its share of stories about, again, usually well intentioned people who ultimately exacerbate the problem they thought they were helping. The Associated Press ran one such story yesterday, describing the mountains of junk items and dirty clothes that people have sent. It takes an incredible amount of time and energy to sort through such donations. In these circumstances, a little bit of common sense would go a long way. Giving to disaster victims is not an excuse to clean out a closet or garage or storage unit without any consideration for what people truly need. (A three foot Santa? Really?) The problem is not limited to dirty underwear or backyard junk. People also send medicine of all kinds: expired prescriptions, bottles of mixed pills, and even bottles with no labels to identify the drug.

The other common “second disaster” or “disaster within a disaster” that happens is when people show up without a clear plan for helping others and without making sure their own needs are met. It’s bad enough when people in the community are suddenly homeless and need a place to stay, food to eat, and time to sort things out. But when out of town help shows up and needs food, water, gas for their vehicle, and a place to sleep, that increases the strain on what is obviously an already stretched infrastructure. Sleeping in your car is not a good idea in a community that is now very attractive to criminals, and not tolerated when a curfew is likely to be in place. This is not to say that people don’t appreciate spontaneous volunteers (they do) or that there isn’t work to be done (there is). But imagine if a hundred people showed up in the same small town to help. Now imagine if a thousand people did. It was recently reported that in one small town, the people who just “showed up” to help actually outnumbered the town’s residents. Obviously, people had to be turned away. Even some that stayed felt unneeded or unappreciated.

This isn’t to say that goods aren’t needed. It isn’t to say that help isn’t needed. Before you dive into the back of your closet, however, or jump in your car and start driving, ask yourself: Whose needs am I really trying to meet? Then ask: What do the people facing this disaster really need?

Four easy actions sum up the steps of an appropriate response: Prepare. Care. Share. And be in prayer. These will be described in a follow-up post.

(*The pictures accompanying this post were taken during a recent visit with affected communities; the sign asking for no more clothes comes from the warehouse in Eclectic, AL, whose mayor is quoted in the AP article.)