And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Oglala Tornado Victims Still Struggling One Month After Storm http://www.yankton.net/stories/071299/new_0712990019.html OGLALA (AP) -- The strain of camping for a month is starting to take a toll on Pine Ridge Reservation tornado victim Clarence Rouillard and his family. The first week or so after the deadly storm destroyed his mobile home June 4 wasn't so bad, says Rouillard. But now it's getting a little ''hectic,'' he says. The Rouillards cook on a camp stove donated by the Red Cross. They store their perishables in a small cooler. Water comes from a neighbor's hand-pumped well. A nearby outhouse serves the Rouillard family of six and others. Still, Rouillard says, a tent beats living in a crowded dormitory, where many of his neighbors ended up after storms hit on two consecutive nights. The twisters killed one man and injured more than 40 people. Officials have estimated that about 160 homes were destroyed or badly damaged. For a few days after the tornadoes, the Rouillard family stayed in a dormitory in Pine Ridge. Rouillard says he and his wife were happy to have a roof and four walls, but the kids were going crazy. ''There's not much here,'' he says, waving at the dusty, rutted patch of ground near the tent. ''But they like it here better. It's where they were born and raised.'' Federal, state and local officials say they are trying to get people into better accommodations. But the effort has been hampered by a lack of rental housing and the destruction of water and electrical lines. ''We are going at it as hard as we can go right now,'' says Cliff Appleby, housing officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. When President Bill Clinton flew into Pine Ridge last week he got a firsthand look at generations of poverty on the reservation. But he missed what a few minutes of swirling 150-mile winds did to Oglala. Initially about 150 residents moved into the dormitories at the Pine Ridge High School and Loneman School in Oglala. That number has dropped to about 85 because some families have moved into temporary travel trailers and tents, or found refuge with friends and relatives. Merna Eagle Hawk and her sister Diana live with their five children in a single large room dormitory room at the Pine Ridge school. They have a 10 p.m. curfew and half an hour to eat their meals served in the school cafeteria. The Eagle Hawk's car was destroyed by the tornado, so they spend their days walking around the village of Pine Ridge. About once a week they hitchhike the 15 miles back to Oglala, with kids in tow, to check the mail and visit their mother. The storm ripped the roof off their house, and the kitchen wall collapsed. Tribal officials say it will be repaired soon, but the Eagle Hawks have not been given a definitive date for returning home. Communal living is beginning to strain relations among the 13 families -- 85 people -- living in the dormitory, the Eagle Hawk sisters say. Families are bickering, and kids are getting into fights, they say. ''It's just kind of hard,'' says Merna Eagle Hawk. ''We're not complaining about anything up there, but we just want to come home now.'' Officials hope all displaced people will have at least temporary trailers by next month. Classes are scheduled to start Aug. 15, so the school will return to its normal use. For all the cramped quarters and crude living conditions, there hasn't been much complaining, says Bob Ecoffey, superintendent for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Pine Ridge. People realize that rebuilding the town isn't going to happen overnight. Families have taken two or three groups of relatives into already overcrowded homes. American Indians have learned to adapt to adverse conditions through decades of life on the reservation, Ecoffey says. ''We're survivors,'' he adds. ''That's just part of our culture. When we have people in need, we just help each other.'' All Contents �Copyright Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Disaster Relief For Reservation Tornado Victims Slow Goinghttp://www.yankton.net/stories/071299/new_0712990023.html Web posted Monday, July 12, 1999 OGLALA (AP) -- Crews could start digging basements as soon as this week for 22 prisoner-built homes that have been purchased from the state for tornado victims on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The 768-square-foot houses, which now are sitting in a fenced-in parking lot at Pine Ridge, should be in place within a month and a half, said Bob Ecoffey, superintendent for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Pine Ridge. He has been working with federal and tribal officials to find housing. They will replace some of the 160 homes damaged when two consecutive nights of twisters tore through the Oglala area June 4-5. The storms killed one person and injured 40. The area also will get new streets, with curb and gutter and lights, Ecoffey said. ''We are going to put in a nice little community for them.'' The storms flattened an entire cluster of homes and a church along the main highway through town. A total of 958 people have registered for assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Getting disaster assistance to the reservation has posed special problems, relief workers say. Usually after a tornado, relief agencies can find families a place to live in a motel or a vacant apartment. Insurance companies often pay a portion of the cost. ''With our housing situation down here, you simply don't have that,'' Ecoffey said. While residents wait for permanent housing, many families have been staying in dormitories in Oglala and Pine Ridge. Others have been living in tents or have moved in with relatives. FEMA has been bringing in travel trailers for families who have working sewer, water and electrical lines. There could be up to 75 of the temporary trailers in the area within the next few weeks, officials say. All Contents �Copyright Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Note: ADDENDUM: MONETARY DONATIONS MAY BE SENT TO: (note Tornado Relief Fund) Oglala Sioux Tribe c/o HAROLD SALWAY PO BOX H Pine Ridge, SD 57770 Thank you for your help and support. More information for you: * Food items should be dropped off at the Pine Ridge High School Kitchen, 605-867-2335 * Lodging at Pine Ridge Boys and Girls dorm - 605-867-1385 * Those needing Candles, batteries, kerosene etc. call Penny Hatch (Fire Station) - 605-867-5178 Again, many thanks from Pine Ridge Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
