Abstract
In May 2013 – like 1999 and previous disasters – many people were killed by tornadoes, apart from hundreds being injured and a lot of property being destroyed in Oklahoma. Despite being a yearly event, the government has not made any progress in the way of controlling these disasters, due to the difficulty of predicting them. From the effects of the disasters, the government has remained reactive, and this led to the conclusion that it should declare the area inhabitable. This is likely the best solution to the problem, because the death, injury and the destruction of property is massive, and the people are forced to rebuild their lives, almost yearly. Unfortunately, the study found that the area is an economic and development hotspot, which tells that the government will never declare it inhabitable, due to the economic and social gains made from it.
Introduction
Tornado Alley is among the areas that are highly vulnerable to the natural disaster phenomena of tornadoes. The area lies along the region’s Great Plains (Gagan, Gerard & Gordon, 2010, p. 146). The most recent disaster that has capped the historical (almost yearly) phenomenon of death, massive injuries and the loss of valuable property was the EF5 Tornado that hit during the afternoon hours of May 20th in 2013. The winds that hit the area were estimated to have reached speeds of 340 kilometers for an hour (km/h). In a manner similar to that of previous events – or worse – the disaster caused the death of more than 24 in a matter of seconds, injured about 400 people and destroyed more than 4250 built structures (Carter, Todd & Pearson, 2013). In the same way as previous Tornadoes, the 2013 disaster hit the same areas, making it a historically known phenomenon that the areas can be affected by tornadoes about every year. The cities affected by the damage of the tornado included Newcastle, the metro of Oklahoma and Moore (Carter, Todd & Pearson, 2013). In particular, the tornado caused damage that was only comparable to that of the 1999 disaster. It also took about the same course taken by the previous F5 disaster (Miller et al., 1999, p. 5). During the 1999 disaster, more than 40 people died, about 700 were injured, and property worth more than USD 1.2 billion was destroyed. Taking into account that the event, like previous ones has affected various counties, the logistics of correcting the damage had to engage a multijurisdictional taskforce and programs. From the review of the damage done by Tornadoes in the region, which is almost annual in nature, this report will take the position that the US government should have declared the area inhabitable (Coleman & Dixon, 2014). Based on this position, the paper will seek to explain the answer as that, the value drawn by the government from the area could be one of the reasons the area has not been declared inhabitable.
The Strategies being used by the government
The government acknowledges that tornadoes present a major threat for infrastructure and the people of the region, besides facing the difficult truth that it has little resources for predicting such events. For example, the Congress supported the efforts aimed at widening the understanding developed about the disaster, instead of relying on the federally sponsored warning infrastructure and weather forecasting (NOAA, 2013). The widening efforts are expected to increase the area’s capacity to reduce the effects of disasters. The issues that are still being explored include whether current and planned strategies will be effective enough to lessen the deaths, fatalities and the damage caused by the adverse events. The government has been exploring the option of disaster resilience; where precautions will be employed to enable the government reduce the severity of outcomes (NOAA, 2013). The plans under adoption and still undergoing further development include those of improving the structural nature of housing and also increasing the use of disaster-proof materials.
The programs launched by the government for this purpose included “the national windstorm Impact reduction program” (Coleman & Dixon, 2014). It has remained a dispute, as to whether the program yielded any outcomes among the goals that had been spelled-out. The government has also acknowledged the possibility that more adverse weather may make the problem much deeper. All these areas of action-taking and policy formulation demonstrate that the government has acknowledged being helpless to the phenomenon of tornadoes in the region (NOAA, 2013).
The disaster mitigation programs employed by the government have included those of staging a recovery plan, through its “Federal Emergency Management Agency” framework (Coleman & Dixon, 2014). The disaster mitigation calls for the mobilization of coordinating agencies/ institutions, including the Department of Commerce, DOD, military engineers and Health and Human Services, among many others. The logistics and the costs of mobilizing for disaster recovery, which does not inhibit the death of people and the destruction of property demonstrates that the US government is equally helpless to the disasters, just like the people inhabiting the area. This leads to the position of this paper that it should declare the area inhabitable, and stop all the damage and the unnecessary spending, unless it gains from the adverse effects of the disasters or the region in general.
The Possible reasons why the government has not declared the area inhabitable (Case study of Moore)
The possible reasons that have made the US government not to declare the tornado-prone area inhabitable include the possible gains that it gets from it. In order to demonstrate that the net value of the area to the government may be positive, this paper will explore the statistics of the housing market of Moore (RKG, 2014). Moore is at the tornado hot-spot in tornado alley (Gagan, Gerard & Gordon, 2010).
Conclusion
Tornado Alley is one of the areas that are most prone to tornadoes in the US. In 2013, like the earlier case of 1999, many deaths were reported, injuries were in the hundreds and a lot of properties were destroyed. The strategies being developed and those adopted by the government include those of researching the phenomenon of tornadoes, so as to develop better ways of controlling it. The main strategy has been increasing disaster preparedness, despite the ineffectiveness of many programs. The indication of the government’s preparedness is that the US government is not able to control the problem of tornadoes and its adverse effects, which made the writer, take the position that the government should declare the area inhabitable. Unfortunately, the review of the value of the area, as compared to the others – to the US government – showed that it is a hot-spot for revenue collection, therefore it is unlikely that the government will ever declare it inhabitable, besides being helpless to the disasters.
References
Carter, C., Todd, B., & Pearson, M. (2013). Crews shift from rescue to recovery a day after Oklahoma tornado, official says. CNN. Retrieved from:
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/21/us/severe-weather/index.html
Coleman, T., & Dixon P. (2014). An Objective Analysis of Tornado Risk in the United States. Weather & Forecasting, 29(2), 366-376.
Gagan, J., Gerard, A., & Gordon, J. (2010). A historical and statistical comparison of "Tornado Alley" to "Dixie Alley. National Weather Digest, 34(2), 146-155.
Miller, D., Doswell, E (III)., Brooks, H., Stumpf, G., & Rasmussen, E. (1999). Highway Overpasses as Tornado Shelters: Events on May 3, 1999. National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma. Retrieved from:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=safety-overpass-slide05
NOAA. (2013). State of the Climate: Tornadoes for April 2013. National Climatic Data Center NOAA. Retrieved from: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/tornadoes/2013/4
RKG. (2014). Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis. City of Moore, Oklahoma. Alexandria, Virginia: RKG Associated, INC.
