Have you ever heard someone say to another person after a natural disaster that they should move? Or perhaps they asked them why on earth they live where they do when they know that (insert natural disaster here) happen there? There are many answers to that question, but the fact is, disasters happen everywhere. California is notorious for earthquakes, mudslides, and forest fires, the Midwest states have tornadoes, the Gulf states have hurricanes as do the Eastern states, and the upper northern states have blizzards, forest fires and bitter cold winter temps, and Alaska and Hawaii have volcanoes - remember Mt. St. Helens?...you get my drift. There is no perfect place to live - everywhere has a drawback, it's just life. I left behind earthquakes in California, but I gained tornadoes when I moved to Kansas - days like yesterday make me think that earthquakes are better. They are less frequent and there's something to be said for not thinking every dark cloud holds the potential for destruction.... but I digress...
For many people, the answer to the problem of living in a place that is prone to tornadoes (or other major natural disasters), like Kansas and Oklahoma, is that they simply don't have the luxury of moving somewhere else. They can't afford it; their work, family, home, etc. is all there. Okay, so what about storm shelters and basements? Well, if you can afford to put a storm shelter in, congratulations! If you can afford to sell your house and buy one with a basement, great for you! If you can be picky enough to find a rental with a basement, more power to you! See, it just isn't that easy for people who are wondering if they will have enough to make their mortgage/rent payment to be able to go out and do any of those things.
Every time there is a tornado that wipes out a town, I hear and see these comments about why we live here, and why those people didn't have a storm shelter. The one that happened yesterday in Moore, Oklahoma is no different. In the midst of the tragedy of school children being the largest portion of victims, insensitive yahoos ask stupid questions. I do agree that all school buildings should have underground shelter areas, though, but until the government steps in and provides the funding for that kind of retro-fit, it will be just like anything else - the wealthier communities will get those kinds of upgrades and poorer communities will bury their children.
What's the answer? We can't change the weather, and natural disasters unfortunately don't listen to our requests to leave us alone, so what do we do? I have a suggestion: maybe our government could should spend less money on frivolous crap and put it into getting all of our nation's communities up to standards on alert systems and building and retro-fitting schools with safer shelters.
You know what our kids here have for a tornado shelter in each of the schools? A designated hallway that is open at the ends where the kids go and sit on the floor with their heads down on their knees and their arms over their heads. Sounds great, right?
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