The storm had violently torn through Joplin, killing people seeking refuge wherever they could find it, such as a Pizza Hut manager who shepherded people into the restaurant’s freezer and a family scrambling for safety inside a Home Depot. Photograph: Ed Zurga/REUTERS A citizen-led effort that solicited feedbackīy the time it dissipated, the tornado was among the deadliest in US history. The tornado was one of the deadliest in US history. “People want to return to normal,” she said, “but at the same time the disaster very often presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a community to build back better.” Jane Cage, a small business owner who became a leader of Joplin’s rebuilding efforts, says communities face a choice between rebuilding as quickly as possible, often the same way things were before, or taking the time to plan and build in a more resilient way. Whether it be towns leveled by wildfires in the west, or by tornadoes like the ones that hit Kentucky last month, catastrophe can also present an opportunity to improve. Joplin has managed to achieve an often elusive post-disaster goal: not just restoring what was there before, but building a more resilient community.Īs the climate crisis intensifies natural disasters, residents here say Joplin offers crucial lessons in how cities can recover and how the US can better prepare. A locally led recovery effort has created a thriving city with a larger population, new educational institutions, more businesses and thousands of houses that are better able to withstand extreme weather. “I was looking at our church and didn’t recognize it.”īut more than a decade later, Joplin’s transformation has been a positive one.
“We lost all our landmarks,” said Ryan Stanley, who was born in Joplin and serves as its mayor.
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