World Vision charity officials are still on the front line dealing with the chaos caused by tornadoes across mid west America, with 519 people killed already this year. This figure already equals the 1953 record number of fatalities in a year, and with a month still left to go in ‘tornado season’, further tragedy looms on the horizon.
Whilst most Americans were enjoying their bank holiday weekend in honour of Memorial Day, World Vision’s response teams were tirelessly working across five states in response to the mass destruction the tornadoes were leaving in their wake. They have now had to relocate their second Mobile Distribution Centre to Joplin, Missouri, who have already confirmed 139 deaths with further fatalities expected.
The 53ft trailer contain a massive amount of disaster relief packs which include personal hygiene kits and cleaning supplies. The initial trailer was deployed to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where last month alone it served more than 4,000 tornado survivors.
World Vision’s domestic emergency response director, Phyllis Freeman, said –
We’ve been working around the clock in Tuscaloosa all month and the common request we get from survivors is to remind people not to forget what’s happened to them. We’ve had back-to-back tornadoes devastate families and children all across this country but we refuse to let any survivor fall through the cracks.
World Vision is appealing for $5 million to help fund its recovery and rebuilding response across five states. With President Obama due to visit many of the tornado stricken towns, hopeful this will remind not just Americans, but the whole world that those affected will require sustained global support in order to rebuild their lives from the devastation that surrounds them.
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