ShelterBox aid en route to Arkansas after tornado

Emergency shelter for close to 50 families is en route to rural Arkansas, USA. 

Families in the small, close-knit, rural towns of Etna and Denning had their homes destroyed last week when a tornado tore through them. 48 ShelterBoxes are en route to the worst affected areas and will provide shelter, warmth and dignity to families who have lost everything. ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members Yi Shun Lai (US) and Tim Osburn (US) have been working with officials in the affected area. 

‘In rural northwest Arkansas, where communications are spotty and folks are spread out, it’s easy to overlook pockets of the population that are in need of help,’ said Yi Shun Lai. 

‘We’ve seen folks whose homes are reduced to rubble but who remain on their land for fear of losing even more. Tim Osburn was in Joplin last week and saw a direct connection between the type of destruction he saw there and what we’re seeing in the small towns of Denning and Etna. 

‘At this point, other agencies are beginning to pull out but no one’s yet been able to provide shelter for those who desperately need it.’ 

This year fierce storms, floods and tornadoes have hit the southern states hard. ShelterBox Response Teams have worked in Tuscaloosa and Joplin but the disaster response needs were being met by local authorities. 

According to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) 2011 is preliminary ranked 7th among the deadliest tornado years in US history. The tornado that struck Joplin was the worst to hit American soil in more than 60 years. 

A tornado is a violent rotating column of air that reaches to the ground from a storm cloud created and maintained by strong inflowing winds. Most continents have regions where conditions lead to development of tornadoes. In the US, ‘Tornado Alley’ stretches between Nebraska to Texas and Oklahoma. The tornadoes form here when cool air from the Rockies meets the warm, wet air from the Gulf of Mexico. 

This is the second time ShelterBox aid has been sent to the US with ShelterBoxes being distributed to families in desperate need after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.