In the days and weeks after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Gulf Coast residents and officials alike coped with the aftermath, from water-quality testing to unwatering to assigning blame.
Today in Joplin, Missouri, residents are facing damage from a very different kind of weather event, the May 22 tornado that destroyed much of the city and killed at least 130 people. But some of the issues are the same: finding housing for those left without, for example. Just as with Katrina and other natural disasters, FEMA may provide trailers to serve as temporary housing. (Although, six years on, some people who lost their homes to Katrina are still living in those trailers.)
As with some water-related losses, however, such as losing homes to flooding or to a river that has shifted course, people in Joplin are looking closely at how to avoid a similar problem next time. As this article describes, FEMA officials are considering that trailers might not be the best option in a tornado-prone area. They are instead looking for permanent buildings—homes and apartments—an hour or so away from the city (little available housing remains intact closer than that). As a FEMA spokeswoman is quoted asking a reporter, “"Wouldn't you prefer to be in a stable building over a mobile home?" They plan to bring in trailers only as a last resort if other housing can’t be found for all the people who have registered with the agency.