Residents as well as area government officials are invited to speak about their tornado experiences and preparedness at a public hearing the state will conduct Tuesday.
The Interim Commission on Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery hopes to gather information about state and local issues related to disaster.
The hearing will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., or until all speakers have been heard, in Corley Auditorium at Missouri Southern State University.
“We want all the public to be invited,” said Missouri House Speaker Pro Tem Shane Schoeller, of Willard. “We think it’s important to hear about the experiences Joplin residents have gone through since the tornado.”
The commission was created by House Speaker Steven Tilley, of Perryville.
Hearings also will be held in other areas of the state that were hit last year by flooding and tornadoes.
Tilley said in a news release that the state needs to review how it responds to disasters so that it can be better prepared for the future.
Commission members last year toured the state to hear about its immediate response and the needs of residents directly after the disasters.
Schoeller said that now that a year has passed, residents may have thought of suggestions for how to deal with the disasters.
“Time has a way of teaching,” he said. “A year later, we know people are going to have a better sense of the coordination between the state and local level.”
While representatives of local governments, organizations and businesses are expected to speak, residents also should feel welcome to give their input, Schoeller said.
“I think it’s very valuable to have citizen input, and I’m a firm believer there’s a lot of common sense that needs to be learned about things that public officials don’t necessarily see,” he said. “That’s why we want to hear from the people who experienced it firsthand.”
Directions
CORLEY AUDITORIUM is located on the east side of Webster Hall on the Missouri Southern State University campus.
May 2011 Joplin tornado
Public hearing on disaster response slated for Tuesday
State seeks input on its role in recovery
- May 2011 Joplin tornado
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Joplin insurance agent seeks donations for Moore, Okla.
After losing an office building and her home in the tornado on May 22, 2011, Loretta Bailey is familiar with the destruction that a tornado brings. The 400 households that her insurance agency helped through the aftermath of the tornado also know that loss. \
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SLIDESHOW: One year later, One day of unity, updated
Photos from a day of events commemorating the May 22, 2011 tornado anniversary
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Joplin team drove through storm to get to Moore
It was a long drive in the middle of a severe thunderstorm that had earlier produced a massive tornado in Moore, Okla. With the two-year anniversary of Joplin’s deadly twister approaching on Wednesday, a team of 14 Joplin emergency workers was ready to risk the trip in order to get help to a hurting Moore.
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Federal, state leaders salute Joplin’s recovery
A deadly May twister may have punched a hole in Joplin and Duquesne two years ago, but the resolve to repair it will help other communities stand strong when they face similar disasters. That was the message of state and national diginitaries to a crowd of about 2,500 who observed the second anniversary of Joplin’s devastating May 22, 2011, storm during a ceremony Wednesday in Cunningham Park.
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Banner from Joplin to be sent to Moore residents
A giant vinyl banner adorned with heartfelt messages from Joplin tornado survivors to the residents of Moore, Okla., became a centerpiece of Wednesday’s observance of the two-year anniversary of the May 22, 2011, tornado.
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Rick Rescorla award named for hero of Vietnam War, 9-11 terror attacks
The Rick Rescorla National Award for Resilience is named for a 62-year-old vice president of security for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. who directed an evacuation of the company’s 2,700-person workforce in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2011.
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Community gearing up for two-year anniversary ceremony this afternoon
With the playground full of children, it could be any other day at Joplin’s Cunningham Park, but the white tents popping up and neat rows of white chairs lined up nearby indicate something more is happening today.
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Farmers Insurance teams up with Rebuild Joplin
Farmers Insurance announced Tuesday that the company will team up with Rebuild Joplin for an initiative to help the community complete its recovery efforts. The company already has placed one of its executives in Joplin, and it is pledging additional funds and volunteer hours by company workers to go toward the city’s recovery.
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Joplin man continues struggle to recover two years after tornado
As the Joplin tornado passed overhead, sweeping the house at 2430 S. Pennsylvania Ave. away in its wake, there was a moment of calm. Delbert Mcguirk was on his back in the basement, where he had sought shelter along with his wife, daughter and two grandchildren. In that moment of relative quiet, he stared up into the eye of the tornado.
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Storms cause damage throughout the Four States
Four-State Area residents hunkered down twice Monday to ride out tornadoes and powerful spring storms, then went to work cleaning up. The worst damage from Monday night’s storm was being reported in Ottawa County, Okla., near Wyandotte. That followed a report of an EF-1 tornado early Monday morning near Carthage.
- More May 2011 Joplin tornado Headlines
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