Joplin MO, sad situations

[mom-from-missouri]

I just came back from working another week in Joplin MO, which lost around 40% of its residences in May of 2011 due to 2 massivie tornados.

Numerous businesses still are not up and running, many homes still waiting to be torn down, many vacant lots, many homes in need of repair before they can be habited again, and many homes in various state of construction.

Numerous people had no insurance.

Numerous people were paid by their homeowners insurance BUT, have had to use it for living expenses to rent another location, and they still have no job as their employeer has not been rebuilt yet. (one builder has a 7 year long waiting list). So, basically those people will never have their homes rebuilt and will be starting all over again, many at the age of retirement.

Some small business owners had a policy that would pay their employees for up to 1 year, but that year is coming soon and they still have not rebuilt. A friend of mine had rental property that was a complete loss. His insurance pays for loss of renters for 4 months, so he is making no headway either, as the 4 months was up last fall.

Fema trailers are full and have waiting lists as well.

Scary. Makes me wonder how many of us are prepared for such a disaster. What would you do? Move to another area? Move in with family if you had some that could take you in??

[kork13]

Personally? Move to another area as soon as it became apparent that the town was not going to be able to rebuild in any timely manner. Family is the simplest answer, if they can manage to support you temporarily. But I'd go anywhere if it meant a way to get back on my feet. Yes, it's home, and yes, it may be everything you know. But if there's not a job to hold because the office was destroyed, and you can't get your own home rebuilt, staying in place is insane.

Believe me, I feel for the people in those situations... I really do. I grew up on an isolated Pacific island, and if the 4-8 annual typhoons destroyed your home, or the place you work, you're stuck, trapped on an island with literally nowhere to go. But doing nothing, waiting for everything suddenly to go back to normal? That's never the answer.

[disneysteve]

Numerous people were paid by their homeowners insurance BUT, have had to use it for living expenses to rent another location, and they still have no job as their employeer has not been rebuilt yet.

What would you do? Move to another area? Move in with family if you had some that could take you in??

I know it is easy to say but I think I'd move to another area where there was housing and jobs to be had. Why stay in a place that was so devastated with no prospects of getting better anytime soon? One easy route might be to take the insurance money and use some of it to buy an RV. That way you can travel and live wherever you are able to find work.

[snafu]

I think families need to have a disaster plan. We had a potential disaster when a train derailed with toxic material requiring our entire community be evacuated until the danger could be assessed. It was not as serious as imagined but we learned a hard lesson. Most of what we grabbed was useless, ATMs ran out of money really fast and it was hard to find everyone after the fact.

I'm sorry for all the people who suffer natural disasters and wonder why third world countries like Thailand can clean up, re-situate people, business and buildings when flooding has brought their major city of Bangkok with 12 million people to their knees...all in 9 months so that their very important tourist economy can get back on track. I wonder why New Orleans, Katrina, 2009, has still not resolved all their problems. It seems like once the media moves onto it's next 'story,' the problems are left to roil. What are the roles of municipal, state and federal organizations and why are they so ineffective?

We've moved for opportunities several time, once due to an economy that tanked and it was obvious that recovery was 10 years in the future. People can be flexible, it's wonderful if you can go to a place with family support but when things go really wrong, it's time to make different choices and new decisions.

[disneysteve]

We've moved for opportunities several time, once due to an economy that tanked and it was obvious that recovery was 10 years in the future. People can be flexible, it's wonderful if you can go to a place with family support but when things go really wrong, it's time to make different choices and new decisions.

One reason the population has become less mobile and less flexible is because of the big push to encourage home ownership in recent years. The more people own their homes, the harder it becomes to pick up and move easily.

[PetMom]

Thanks for bringing this up.

I just assumed most people had insurance on their homes, although I do know that if you own it you do not have to have insurance and some might think that is saving money or just don't have the money.

Never thought of that applying to rental properties (yet another thing the real estate landlord investors need to be aware of).

I thought homeowners insurance covered the cost of building the home and the labor to get it back to what it was.

If you don't have an ef then that big check sent is probably used as living expenses.

And if the work place is gone what then?

Moving does seem to be a solution, but then people have to come up with down payments, etc...

[mom-from-missouri]

One reason the population has become less mobile and less flexible is because of the big push to encourage home ownership in recent years. The more people own their homes, the harder it becomes to pick up and move easily.

Interesting that you said that Steve, as that is the same thing one of the men who works with the organization I volunteer with said. He is one that heads up volunteers in various communitites and has been traveling, following disasters for over 30 years doing this. He said it has changed in the past 20 years as more people are owning now.