After the EF-5 tornado lifted, first responders in Joplin, Mo., called on local mutual-aid pacts to begin the grueling task of looking for survivors and clearing debris. To help manage outside resources, the city also brought in FEMA Region VII coordinators. FEMA public-information specialist Carolyn Stonner said that within hours of the tornado striking Joplin, FEMA submitted a disaster declaration for immediate federal assistance. Within 12 hours, FEMA incident-management teams and eight mobile communication units were stationed in the city helping local responders, she said.

FEMA's role is to coordinate federal resources to help states recover, acting more as a partner than the response lead. As a result, Stonner said the agency was assigned tasks such as setting up AmeriCorps to handle on-scene volunteer registration, working with local agencies on debris removal from private property and managing donations coming into the city. FEMA also tasked the Army Corps of Engineers to help with the rebuilding process and the EPA with cleaning up hazardous materials, such as electronic goods spewed across the city.

The agency also worked with Department of Housing and Urban Development to deal with displaced residents, Stonner said.

"If you haven't been down here, the pictures you saw on the Weather Channel and national TV do not do justice to the picture on the ground," she said. "It is utter devastation in some areas."

During the event, the fire chief lost his house and the city lost firehouses. Stonner said many of the first responders who were impacted were told to take care of their families first and, as they could, return later to help with the response. FEMA also provided temporary tents to house the fire equipment, with mobile units acting as a temporary office space for the fire stations.

The tornado took out much of the city's infrastructure; therefore, communications were affected. To help, FEMA deployed a regional communications coordinator in Joplin within hours. Stonner said they also were doing frequency management with regional partners and were in contact with ham radio operators to make sure communications were up and running.

"Immediately following the tornado, there were definitely communications problems, but we worked on those issues very quickly," she said.

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