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| President Barack Obama tries to comfort Plaza Towers Elementary School principal Amy Simpson Sunday May 26, 2013, in Moore, Okla., as he views the devastation of the school caused by tornado and severe weather last week. |
MOORE, Okla.
(AP) -- President Barack Obama visited tornado-devastated Moore, Okla.,
Sunday, consoling people staggered by the loss of life and property and
promising that the government will be behind them "every step of the
way."
"I'm just a messenger here," the
president said, saying "folks are behind you" across America. He offered
moral and monetary support in the wake of the monstrous EF5 tornado
that killed 24 people, including 10 children, last Monday afternoon.
Standing
with Gov. Mary Fallin and other state and federal officials, Obama
noted a substantial rebuilding job ahead and said that "our hearts go
out to you."
"This is a strong community with strong character. There's no doubt they will bounce back," he said. "But they need help."
The
White House said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has already
provided $57 million in rebates and incentives to help build about
12,000 storm shelters in Oklahoma. "These storm shelters can be the
difference between life and death," presidential spokesman Josh Earnest
told reporters accompanying Obama to Oklahoma on Air Force One.
For Obama, Sunday's visit had an all-too-familiar ring.
Only
five months into his second term, he has traveled to the northeast to
console people in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, and visited
Connecticut and Arizona to comfort people traumatized by shooting
rampages. He also has undertaken his consoler-in-chief role at the site
of plant explosions and mine disasters, not to mention a series of
natural disasters including Joplin, Mo., and the Jersey Shore, which was
heavily damaged by Superstorm Sandy last year.
Once on the ground, Obama urged the American people to make contributions, saying the damage was "pretty hard to comprehend."
Shortly
after his arrival on a partly cloudy day, Obama rode past grassy fields
strewn with scattered debris, witnessing devastation so awesome that it
appeared as if garbage had literally rained from the sky. His first
stop was the demolished site of the Plaza Towers Elementary School,
where seven students were killed when the tornado turned the one-story
building into a heap of bricks, broken concrete and twisted metal.
"I
know this is tough," he told superintendent Susie Pierce as he gripped
her hand. As he walked, the demolished school was on his left and on
his right, homes as far as the eye could see were reduced to piles of
rubble. Vehicles were turned upside down and toys like a pink doll
carriage and children's books were strewn with furniture and ripped out
wall insulation. Every tree had been stripped of its leaves and bark.
Obama
at one point joined the Lewis family, which lost their home behind the
school. He said the important thing was that they survived and could
replace their things.
"What a mess," he told
their son Zack, a third grader at the shattered school. Zack's father,
Scott, ran into the school just before the storm hit and ran with his
terrified son back to their home's storm shelter.
"You've got some story to tell," Obama told the boy. "This is something you'll remember all your life."
Obama
later met privately with victims' families at Moore Fire Department
Station (hash)1, which has turned into a command center with dozens of
first responders sitting at folding tables where fire trucks are
normally parked. Obama marveled that they saved so many lives "given the
devastation."
"I know this is tough," he told superintendent Susie Pierce as he gripped her hand.
As
he descended the stairs upon landing at Tinker Air Base near here,
Obama was greeted first by Fallin, who had said earlier she appreciated
the visit, but that her state also needed quick action from FEMA.
The
Republican governor said that so far, the agency has done a great job
of speeding relief and cash assistance to affected families, but said
she's concerned about the long run.
"There's
going to come a time when there's going to be a tremendous amount of
need once we begin the debris clearing, which we already have, but
really get it cleared off to where we need to start rebuilding these
homes, rebuilding these businesses," she said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
`'And we know at different times in the past, money hasn't come always
as quickly as it should."
Fallin said the
money is particularly vital for the victims. "A lot of people lose their
checkbooks, they lose their credit cards, they lose their driver's
license, their birth certificates, their insurance papers, they lose
everything, and they have no cash. And some of the banks were even hit,
the ATM machines, so people need cash to get immediate needs," she said
on CBS.
Earnest touted the federal
contributions so far, including Obama's signing of a disaster
declaration within hours of the storm to speed aid from the Federal
Emergency Management Agency. Earnest said that 450 FEMA personnel were
working on the ground in Oklahoma and have delivered 43,000 meals,
150,000 liters of water and thousands of cots, blankets and tarps. He
said 4,200 people have applied for disaster assistance, and $3.4 million
in payments have been approved.
Among the
tornado victims were 10 children, including two sisters pulled by the
strong winds out of their mother's grasp, an infant who died along with
his mother trying to ride out the storm in a convenience store and seven
students at Plaza Towers. Many students were pulled from the rubble
after the school was destroyed.
