Wednesday, May 29, 2013

2 years after Joplin tornado, survivor ministers in Moore

MOORE, Okla. (BP) -- Gary Hunley had seen it all before. As he surveyed the damage left behind from last Monday's EF5 tornado in Moore, Okla., he saw an all-too-familiar scene of overturned cars, metal signposts bent to the ground and houses reduced to rubble.

Almost two years to the day before the historic Moore tornado, Hunley's home was destroyed by an equally historic tornado in Joplin, Mo., which killed 158 people. Since then Hunley, the leader on his Spring River Baptist Association Disaster Relief team, has participated in numerous Southern Baptist Disaster Relief responses. Yet because of the amount of damage in Moore, the latest assignment has brought back a variety of memories.

"I understand it," Hunley said. "I saw it yesterday for the first time. It was like Joplin -- the scene, the smell, the look on people's faces. Some are trying to be uplifting and act like everything is okay. They're hiding it though; I can see it on their face. I feel so sorry for them."

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