\nkilled at least 24 people on Monday<\/span> and injured
\nhundreds of others. Seven children were found dead in the debris of
\nthe Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla.<\/p>\n
Authorities believe that everyone who was at Briarwood
\nElementary School survived the deadly tornado, which ravaged the
\nbuilding with 200 mph winds.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could just feel the pressure just building like you were
\nin an airplane, just the pressurization of the cabin and your ears
\npopping and the debris starts flying and the roof falling in,\u201d<\/i>
\nBriarwood\u2019s first-grade teacher Sheri Bittle told ABC. \u201cAnd
\neverything in your classroom falling in on you.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
Both of the destroyed schools lacked tornado shelters, which
\nwould have potentially prevented many of the casualties and
\nfatalities that occurred on May 20. More than 100 Oklahoma schools
\ncurrently have metal safe rooms, which can be built above ground or
\nunderground and sustain winds up to 250 mph.<\/p>\n
These rooms may be the difference between life and death in
\nstates where the tornado risk is high, but lack of funding to build
\nthem has prevented elementary schools like Plaza Towers and
\nBriarwood from constructing shelters of their own.<\/p>\n
Retrofitting a school with a safe room shelter costs an
\nestimated $600,000 to $1 million per building, Bloomberg News
\nreports. Albert Ashwood, director of the Oklahoma Department of
\nEmergency, told the news agency that his department can\u2019t afford to
\nprovide every school with a shelter, but that he is looking into
\nwhether the two schools had ever even applied for federal funding
\nto build safe rooms.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"http:\/\/rt.com\/files\/news\/1f\/29\/e0\/00\/15.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have a limited amount of funds,<\/i>\u201d he said. \u201cYou
\nset priorities. It\u2019s not a matter of they were being left
\nout.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
But Oklahoma residents refer to Moore as \u201cTornado Alley\u201d, since
\nthe area has been struck by devastating twisters more than any
\nother region in the US. In May 1999, a tornado took a similar path,
\nravaging Moore, killing 41 people, and costing the US $1 billion in
\ndamages.<\/p>\n
Some residents believe that safe rooms should be a priority in
\nOklahoma \u2014 particularly in Moore, since it has a history of falling
\nvictim to tornadoes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they can afford a $5 million football stadium, they can
\nafford a safe room,\u201d<\/i> 67-year-old John Lemmon, a Moore resident
\nwho lives near Plaza Towers Elementary School, told Bloomberg.
\n\u201cThey should have done it right after they had the last big
\none.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
While both elementary schools were reduced to rubble, students
\nat Plaza Towers Elementary School were worse off. This traditional
\nschool building was constructed with a long line of classrooms that
\nwere all under a single roof. When the tornado caused the building
\nto crumble, students were trapped in the wreckage of the structure,
\nand at least seven of them died.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Briarwood Elementary School was divided into four sections, with
\nseveral classrooms in each pod. Between these pods were openings
\nthat led students outside, which allowed students to escape the
\ncollapsing walls and ceilings.<\/p>\n
No children died at Briarwood as they escaped the falling debris
\nwith backpacks over their heads. But both schools could have
\nensured the safety of their students if they had metal safe rooms
\nto retreat into during natural disasters.<\/p>\n
Now that children have died in the May 20 twister that ravaged
\nMoore, Okla., the Federal Emergency Management Agency may
\nreconsider providing the funding for safe rooms. The city of Moore
\nhas long been trying to acquire funds to buy them, and the city in
\nFebruary wrote on its website that FEMA requirements have held them
\nback.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t have disasters, you don\u2019t have additional money
\nfor mitigation for safe rooms, but without disasters there\u2019s not a
\nset funding source just for safe rooms,\u201d<\/i> FEMA director Craig
\nFugate told ABC, indicating that changes may only occur when it\u2019s
\ntoo late to reverse the damage.<\/p>\n