June Non-Fiction Blog Post

            This week I read “Tornado Devastates Oklahoma Town” by Kelli Plasket, on the recent tornado in Oklahoma. The overall main idea was that the tornado caused a lot of damage to Moore, Oklahoma (the town it was located in) and it’s people. President Obama said the tornado was a ‘major disaster’ and that the city, Moore, “needs to get everything it needs right away”. The tornado was a category 4, the ‘second-most powerful type of twister’, and the winds got up to 200 miles per hour. Moore contains 41,000 people, of which about 24 were killed, and at least 120 people were injured. These details tell me that it was recognized nation-wide, that it was a dangerous twister, and that there were serious repercussions.

            The author wants readers to think that it was a devastating tornado that drastically affected Moore’s community. They also want us to feel sympathetic towards the people of Moore, and bad for the friends and families of casualties. The author describes the aftermath of the tornado, when injured people were transferred to stable hospitals, or when rescuers saved children from schools and returned them to their parents, in order to make us think and feel these things. The author also includes a first hand account of the tornado from Betty Snider, that it was “the loudest roar I’ve ever heard in my life.” These details help us realize what it was actually like being in the tornado, and what it was like after the tornado, and how things didn’t just go back to normal.

            After reading this article, I’ll take away the fact that experiencing a drastic natural disaster is life changing, and that things don’t just go back to normal once it’s over, it lingers and leaves a mark. I now think that towns that have experienced any kind of natural disaster let alone a tornado, should get as much help as they need right away. We should never assume a town is back to normal until it’s certain, and all obstacles have been overcome and taken care of. I’d still like to know how children are responding to this. Do they have a better understanding of it since they were in the tornado than adults who weren’t?

http://www.timeforkids.com/news/tornado-devastates-oklahoma-town/93961