.jpeg "joplin tornado damage")
As we ate, another volunteer came up, grabbed a sandwich and we started talking. Later in the day, my DA partner and I came upon a Red Cross vehicle handing out food and decided it was a good time for a break. A merchant on a street corner where his store once stood handing out what he had salvaged.
#JOPLIN TORNADO DAMAGE PORTABLE#
The drive-up burger joint still in operation with a portable generator. But this was different.Īs a new Red Cross volunteer, I quickly realized that involvement not only was expected, it was the core of what we do to help survivors to recover and move on.Īs part of the disaster assessment team, I was among the first to arrive while rescuers still were searching the debris that once were homes and removing victims from the trees.īut in this crossroads of shock and response were a few oasis of normalcy. In past disasters, my job was to observe what was there and write about it. But the massive tornado of that laid waste to sections of Joplin, Missouri was different. People stood in the morning sun to survey what once had been their neighborhood, their home, their way of life.Īs a journalist, I had seen my share of disasters brought about by nature and humankind. One side of a street obliterated and the other side untouched. The devastation was everywhere and there was no rhyme or reason. I knew that people were killed and injured, and the job at hand the entire time I was down there was getting aid and comfort to the clients, and making sure that they were taken care of first.”ĭavid is a humanitarian who knows disasters and continues to give of himself in the service of those in need. You do the job that needs to be done at that particular moment, then you can sit back and reflect on what transpired.
“When you get to that disaster, you’re so busy you don’t have time to stop and think about things. He said he tries not to bring “work” home and there are memories he would prefer not to dredge up but, “We don’t forget some of those disaster. When asked about the memories of his time working in Joplin, David recalled, “It was very sad and disheartening to see the disaster area, specially the hospital.” There is nothing you can do to prevent that disaster except pick up the pieces.”Īlthough deeply saddened by the decimation and loss of life, David’s training allowed him to take the long, 14-hour days in stride, hold his emotions at bay and save his strength for those who needed it. “Most of the people that I worked with were seasoned responders who were well aware of what disasters are. Any time you have the very first part of a disaster, the first thing you do is to secure the clients in safe housing and tend to their needs.”ĭavid and his team of volunteers did it all from unloading trucks, serving food, managing traffic in shelter parking lots to working in the shelters. “Thirty-five years in law enforcement helped,” he said. He was ready to do any and every job asked of him.Īrmed with a long career in law enforcement, and some two decades of Red Cross experience beginning with the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, David Meade was well equipped to handle the rigorous demands of the immediate recovery efforts. With a city in shambles after the twister and people stunned and trying to get their bearings, David knew there was much to be done and no time to waste. He drove down to Joplin, checked in with Red Cross headquarters and as he succinctly puts it, “started to work, doing what needed to be done.” American Red Cross volunteer David Meade did not hesitate when he got that call to deploy the morning after the EF-5 tornado had ravaged Joplin, Missouri.
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