Clark: Now is a time to pray, not to point fingers

Seeing the tornadoes sweep through Oklahoma with deadly results was horrifying and amazing much like a train wreck, I suppose.

Some houses were completely destroyed while right across the street, the houses looked unmarked. The indiscriminate manner in which nature handed out its wrath is not lost on anyone in these parts.

While Oklahoma and some of those other states are in Tornado Alley, here in Eastern North Carolina, we sit in the midst of Hurricane Alley. Many of us have seen so many destructive hurricanes that it’s become hard to differentiate between most of them.

Obviously, we remember the huge ones — Floyd comes to my mind — or the ones that affected us personally. I suspect most of us have some sort of story to tell about these catastrophes. Most of the time, what separates these stories from ones like the horrific events in Oklahoma are deaths, and in the worst cases, children’s deaths.

Watching and reading the coverage of the Oklahoma tornadoes and the destruction of the two elementary schools shows how little control we truly have over these types of events. At one school, Briarwood, there were no fatalities. However, across town at Plaza Towers Elementary, nature’s cruelty was on full display as seven children were killed.

The mourning period from the media predictably didn’t last long. Following a day or so of reporting the losses, the story began to subtly shift. We are now in full blown “who’s to blame” mode.

Did we have enough warning time? Why didn’t all the schools have safe rooms or basements? Were there actual architectural differences between the two schools and was that the reason so many children died at Plaza Towers?

The very sad truth of the matter is the answer to all of the questions the media is asking is that there are no answers. You can not be properly prepared for something like this. You do not ever have enough time for something like this. And you will never build anything that can withstand something like this.

All we can do is pray for those we lost, help those that have lost everything and learn as much as we can.

Richard Clark is the universal desk chief for Halifax ENC; you can reach him at 910-219-8452 or at Richard.Clark@jdnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at kpaws22.