COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Six months after the May 22 EF-5 tornado destroyed a large section of the city of Joplin, Jasper and Newton counties have received an estimated $174 million in federal assistance provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency through various programs, according to federal recovery officials...
...A robust Long Term Recovery Committee is present, with more than 50 agencies providing long term recovery assistance to help with disaster survivors unmet needs. Disaster case management services are being provided through a collaborative effort among the American Red Cross, Catholic Charities, and Salvation Army. Aggregately, more than 1,000 cases have been assisted with services such as rental and utility assistance, transportation, household items, food and clothing. In addition, Mennonite Disaster Services, United Methodists Disaster Response team, and Convoy of Hope have provided demolition assistance to owners of more than 500 residential structures in Jasper and Newton counties. Voluntary organizations’ assessments for survivor unmet needs are estimated at $4.6 million. The state of Missouri has applied for a $5.7 million disaster case management grant for unmet needs.
Long Term Community Recovery (LTCR): FEMA ESF-14 specialists assisted with the formation of the Citizens Advisory Recovery Team (CART) which encouraged citizen participation in planning and rebuilding Joplin. The CART is composed of city officials, business leaders, community leaders and residents. Through the summer, CART hosted several public meetings to gather citizen input. From those sessions, they distilled the information, developing recovery and rebuilding priorities. On Oct. 13-14, FEMA LTCR arranged a design charrette sponsored by the American Institute of Architects. More than 60 architects, landscape architects and planners volunteered their time to create drawings, diagrams and realistic renderings of many potential projects that could be catalysts for recovery. On Nov. 7, CART presented their report to Joplin City Council. CART will continue to work with the City in developing specific projects
