Tag Archives: U.S. South tornadoes

Still in the blessing business

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Laura Reinhardt in Partnerships, Stories

When I first laid eyes on Holt — a community just outside of Tuscaloosa, Ala. — just a few days after the April 27 tornado struck, what had once been a vibrant neighborhood now looked like a huge open field. It was a field filled with splintered wood, crumpled metal, broken glass, and shattered dreams. Families sorted through the ruins looking for anything they could salvage....

GLOBAL GLIMPSE — Disaster response in 5 hotspots around the globe

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Larry Short, World Vision media relations in Disaster Relief

Providing you with a quick snapshot of what’s happening in five hotspots around the globe — where your generous support is literally helping people cope with and recover from disasters and crisis situations. Thank you and please continue to stand by us as we respond to multiple disasters around the world. Drought and famine in the Horn of Africa (current) The first UN-declared famine of the 21st century, caused by a convergence of political strife, drought, and increasing global food prices, is affecting more than 12 million people in four countries in the Horn of Africa: Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti. More than 30,000 children from Somalia alone have perished of acute malnutrition and other related illnesses during the past...

Blogger interview with World Vision on tornado response

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Guest blogger in Disaster Relief

Family photos amidst the rubble in Joplin, Missouri. ©2011 Laura Reinhardt/World Vision

Editor’s note: On Tuesday evening, World Vision blogger Dan King conducted a Skype interview with Romanita Hairston, World Vision’s vice president of U.S. programs, about how World Vision plans to help those affected by tornadoes in the U.S. Heartland, and her recent experience in the tornado zone in Joplin, Missouri. I was sitting in the delivery room with my wife early on the morning of April 28, and we turned on the TV to pass a little time. Flipping over to the news, we saw video of a mile-wide tornado ripping through Alabama. It was part of what’s been termed the “2011 Super Outbreak.” As we were about to welcome a new life into the world, our hearts broke for...

Observations from Missouri’s tornado zone

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Phyllis Freeman in Disaster Relief

Outside Irving Elementary School in Joplin, Missouri, the devastation following the May 22 tornado is hard to comprehend. ©2011 Phyllis Freeman/World Vision

Editor’s note: Joplin, Missouri, is a small town in the U.S. Heartland. Its official population is 50,150. But now, it is tragically smaller in every sense, after the May 22 tornado that left 122 dead, 750 injured, and more than a quarter of the town destroyed. Phyllis Freeman, our domestic emergency response director, is on the ground in Joplin. I went looking for a school and found Irving Elementary School. It was mangled, the bricks blown apart. You can only think about the children who lived through this, seeing the skies turn black, hearing the roar of 200-mph winds, and watching the tornado chew things up, literally. Then they emerged to find their home gone, not knowing what’s happened to...

World Vision responds to tornadoes in central U.S.

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Mindy Mizell in Disaster Relief

Scattered debris surrounds a damaged home in a neighborhood hard hit by a devastating tornado in Joplin, Missouri May 23, 2011. Tornadoes tore through parts of the U.S. Midwest on Sunday, killing at least 30 people in Joplin, claiming another life in Minneapolis and causing extensive property damage in the region. Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Mike Stone

Update, May 25, 3:44 pm: World Vision is also continuing its tornado response in Joplin, Missouri where our national domestic disaster director just completed an initial assessment of the neighborhoods impacted in Sunday’s deadly tornado. “The damage in Joplin is every bit as devastating as what we’ve been responding to......