“We’re here to help,” says Secretary of Homeland Security to residents of Joplin

On the first anniversary of the Joplin, MO tornado disaster declaration, an AP wire story, titled FEMA’s Role Questioned Anew, actually questions what the state role is rather than criticizing FEMA. It appeared in the Portland, ME Press Herald. The article does raise an interesting point about the role of state government and why a “rainy day” fund was not used to help Joplin recover.

Missouri has a rainy-day fund with about $500 million that was created for costly emergencies. But the fund hasn’t been tapped for Joplin because Gov. Jay Nixon and some lawmakers are reluctant to trigger a constitutional mandate that the borrowed money be replenished within three years.

Some critics of federal disaster aid point to Missouri’s rainy-day fund as a prime example of how states pass the buck to the federal government for local tragedies.

On the same topic, the Wall St. Journal has an article about Joplin.  The subtitle is: Laissez-Faire Zoning Laws in Tornado-Stricken Joplin Leave Neighbors Bristling. Unfortunately, you have to have a paid subscription to get the whole article and I do not. I would like to know more about the zoning issues, if someone out there has more details.

Earlier today I wrote ” Once again, I want to point out that it is essential to learning and retention that someone write up these examples as case studies so that future recovering communities will have the benefit of these experiences. FEMA – where are you on this matter?”  By coincidence, I learned that FEMA is working on collecting recovery information and mounting it on their LLIS system.

One more article, this time on a new report and journal article about health information systems and their restoration in Joplin.

On May 24, FEMA issued a Hazards Mitigation Report on Joplin; click here for the direct link.