Earthquakes vs. Tornadoes = It's official

[Cudedog]

I think the size of area affected by the tornadoes makes a huge difference in the ability for people and communities to respond. There are those severe storms that are so much broader than other and those storms that touch down here and there and those that stay on the ground for miles and miles…..

Well said, Tina.

I think how people think of - and can respond to - tornadoes is as a matter of scale.

It is definitely easier for rescuers and first responders to respond to a "smaller" event (although such a thing is never small for those living through them). Possibly because (in smaller events) it can be seen where the damage begins, and where the damage ends. Easier to congregate at a specified point or specified town.

Especially when the tornado is relatively narrow in width, and is on the ground for a relatively short distance.

When a tornado is really large, and covers an incredible distance, damaging or destroying multiple towns, this becomes much more difficult.

The Gaylord tornado was an "EF-3 with maximum winds of around 150 mph and at its widest, the tornado was 200 yards. At least 70 mobile homes were destroyed by the tornado. Officials say the tornado was on the ground for about 20 minutes and covered 16.6 miles."

In comparison (and, again, it is never really fair to compare one tornado disaster to another - all tornado disasters are horrific for those living - and dying - through them) the tornado that leveled Rolling Fork, Mississippi (this is the tornado mentioned in my original post) was an EF4 that stayed on the ground for more than an hour, for a distance of just over 59 miles.

It is also estimated to have been about a mile wide.

There were 850 households in Rolling Fork alone, with other homes and businesses in other towns along the tornado's path while it was on the ground also severely damaged. I don't think the total number of residences damaged or destroyed by this Mississippi tornado has yet been tabulated.

And in Rolling Fork there doesn't seem to be much left.

This area of the deep south is not a vacation destination, nor is it a place where people go to purchase and maintain second homes.

Out of all states in the U. S., Mississippi is the poorest of all of them. Michigan is 17th.

As is being reported, few, if any, people in Rolling Fork (and likely other towns along this tornado's path) had their homes insured against tornadoes.

I'll still take an earthquake over a tornado or hurricane any day of the week.

Anne

[BarbaraRose]

Such a horribly tragic situation. I agree that the fact that the destruction is so massive and wide spread, that I imagine everyone is in shock and so overwhelmed to the point where they don't even know where or how to begin to do anything. Where do you start when everything is destroyed?

I grew up at the top of tornado alley in Minnesota. When I was 4 years old (1965) we had 2 EF2 tornadoes heading towards us, one from the south, and one from the west. Luckily, they both missed our house, one went up and over our area, but they merged just north of us, turning into an EF4, and wiping out a northern suburb of Minneapolis, which was Fridley. Lots of damage just south and west of us from the two separate tornadoes. I remember hiding in our basement and hearing one of them going up over the house. Luckily, most homes in the midwest have basements to go to. Down south, they don't. Minnesota hasn't had nearly as many tornadoes in recent years as they used to. Most of the really severe weather seems to now stay south of the MN/Iowa border and move into southern Wisconsin instead.

Also, with hurricanes, they say most of the deaths are from the flooding from the rains and storm surges which is why it is worse along the coastal areas. Of course, Katrina caused so many deaths because of the levees that broke and flooded so many areas.

I don't think any natural disaster is better or worse than another. It depends on where you are when it hits. You might be lucky and your side of the street doesn't get leveled, or you aren't on the bridge that collapses, or your house doesn't catch on fire because the wind shifted, or you are on higher ground from the flooding. Or you might not be so lucky...

[Colliemom]

Here’s some more facts for you Anne. This as why FEMA declined assistance.

Erin Mann, executive director of the Otsego County United Way, told the WSWS that while the tornado impacted residents from all socioeconomic backgrounds, the destruction from the tornado has hit low-income residents particularly hard.

There were a total of 210 homes and approximately 30 businesses damaged in the tornado. Thirty-three of those 210 were completely destroyed and a further 30 have around 50 percent damage to the structure.

Mann explained that the threshold to qualify for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance for the city of Gaylord is $16 million in uninsured damage. Since most of the damage occurred to mobile homes with values around $10,000, that threshold will not be reached, meaning that no FEMA funding will be made available to the city or residents who have been displaced or have had significant damage to their property.

But when you look at the piles of the debris from those Mississippi tornadoes, it really blows your mind.