    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [April 15, 1998]
    [Pages 566-568]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in McDonald Chapel, Alabama
    April 15, 1998

        Thank you very much. Thank you. Let me first of all thank
    Governor and Mrs. James, Senator Shelby,
    Congressman and Mrs. Bachus, Congressman Hilliard, and
    we were joined earlier today by Congressman Riley
    and Congressman Aderholt, my long-time
    friend Mayor Arrington and my friend
    Senator Heflin. I thank all of you for joining
    us, Senator Escott, Representative
    Hilliard, Sheriff Woodward, and all the law enforcement officials.
        I want to thank James Lee Witt and our
    SBA director, Aida Alvarez, for their presence
    here today and all the FEMA workers, beginning with Mr. Witt, for the
    wonderful job they've done here in Alabama. I'd like to thank the people
    who've shared their stories with me, Pastor Homer and Shelva Jordan, as we
    stood in their Chapel Hill Baptist Church down there. I thank Bill and Gayle Reed, and
    Morris and Bonnie Rembert, and Phil and Cindy
    Rutland who are our hosts--we're on their
    property today. They are throwing an open house for us. [Laughter]
        All of you know that we're looking at what remains of one of the
    deadliest tornadoes in Alabama's history, one of the most powerful
    tornadoes ever recorded in the United States. I've just come from a
    recovery center in Pratt City where I spoke with some other grieving
    families. I met a young man who was on his
    way to his wife's funeral. They were married
    just a year and a month.
        When the Vice President came back from
    his tour here, he told me about the destruction, but this really is a
    place that has to be seen to be believed and understood. I want all of
    you to know, here in Alabama, that the entire country has been moved by
    this disaster, by its scope, by its sweep, and by the way that you have
    recovered and tried to fight through it.
        Our country has prayed for and hoped for you and for your neighbors
    in Georgia. As always, I have been especially moved by the way people in
    the community have pulled together, have reached out to their neighbors
    whom they knew and their neighbors whom they did not know before this
    terrible tragedy struck, and I thank you for that.
        I never cease to be amazed when I see people who have lost
    everything, who can still express their gratitude that they and their
    children and their neighbors are still alive and they have the ability
    to start again. Your community has pulled together. Your State has been
    here, and there is a responsibility that your fellow citizens throughout
    the country feel.
        The reason we have a Federal Emergency Management Agency, the reason
    the Small Business Administration has disaster assistance, the reason we
    do all these things is because all of us recognize that from time to
    time in America things will happen that no community, not even one
    State, can handle on its own.
        I am pleased that Federal assistance checks are already in the hands
    of Alabama residents who are repairing or rebuilding their homes or
    those who need temporary housing or medical care. I spoke to some folks
    today who hadn't received them yet, and I assured them that they would
    be there soon, and that if they aren't they ought to call us and let us
    know.
        I know, too, that today the first disaster loans to businesses went
    out from the Small Business

    [[Page 567]]

    Administration, about $600,000 worth of them. Also today I can say that
    we are making available all categories of public assistance funding for
    local governments and non-profit organizations to rebuild, restore, and
    reconstruct public facilities, including schools and infrastructure, and
    I think that's very important.
        And I think its also important that we recognize that for all the
    courage and heroism and just plain old-fashioned resilience of the
    people, there are emotional and physical stresses associated with a
    disaster like this that go beyond the cost of the buildings blowing down
    and the homes blown away and the family letters and pictures that will
    never be seen again, even beyond the hospital costs of legs that have to
    be set and cuts that have to be sewn up. So we're authorizing a crisis
    counseling assistance and training program here to provide up to 9
    months of community services and outreach to help people who need to be
    supported as they start trying to look to tomorrow again.
        Finally, I talked to a number of people today who obviously can't go
    to work right now because of what's happened, who are concerned about
    their situation. Secretary Herman and the
    Department of Labor are going to provide over 3 million jobs for--
    temporary jobs to assist in the clean up and recovery. And I hope some
    of the people in this neighborhood who may be unemployed as a
    consequence of the tornado will be able to get some temporary work
    helping to put their neighbors' lives and their communities back
    together again.
        Finally, let me say that our FEMA Director, James Lee Witt, contacted the National Council of Churches about
    the loss and destruction to churches here, and they have pledged to help
    on a national basis to assist in the effort to rebuild and repair all
    the churches that were damaged and destroyed here in Alabama as a result
    of this tornado.
        Let me just close with a special commendation for all the State and
    local emergency management officials, the search and rescue teams, the
    volunteers who have labored so long; the Governor told me about some of
    the horrible human loss just within yards of where we're standing. I
    thank the people in our military uniforms. Many of them have been here
    for hours and hours and hours without relief. I know that many of these
    relief workers have been working more than 18 hours a day to clear
    debris, to cut trees, to lift telephone poles. I would like to
    compliment your power company for getting the power back on within 48
    hours and allowing some measure of normalcy to return.
        I would like to thank the Salvation Army for providing the free
    meals and all the people that contributed food from all over America. I
    would like to thank the people who have provided quilts or medicine or
    other physical support. I would also like to say--Bill and Gayle Reed said something to
    me I think I ought to say to all of you--they said, you know, a lot of
    times in the last few days the most important thing they got from their
    friends and neighbors was just a kind remark or a pat on the back or an
    expression of support. And for all of you who have done that, I thank
    you.
        My experience has been, from being Governor of a State with a lot of
    tornadoes for 12 years and then being President during some of the most
    profound natural disasters of the 20th century, is that the most
    important thing for people in trouble is that they know their friends
    and neighbors and family members are supporting them and that they have
    some concrete thing to look forward to tomorrow. We have to give people
    a way to look forward to tomorrow--a project, work to do, something that
    can be done to make a difference.
        I'm always struck by the strength and bravery, the generosity of the
    American people at a time like this. The families I have seen today have
    reaffirmed that and I thank them. Back behind us over here in McDonald
    Chapel, the Open Door Church may lie in a rubble, but I understand that
    on Easter morning the congregation gathered on folding chairs and held a
    service in the parking lot. The Book of Isaiah has a verse that has
    particular meaning to me. I'll just leave it with you: ``You were
    wearied with the length of your way, but you did not say it was
    hopeless; you found new life for your strength, and so you were not
    faint.''
        My friends, the road to recovery is long. Your grief and your pain
    are profound. It will take weeks, months, even years to rebuild all that
    has been destroyed. But the process of restoration has begun because the
    most important thing you have, your spirit, was not destroyed. And we
    look forward to working with you all the way.
        Thank you very much.

    [[Page 568]]

    Note: The President spoke at 11:30 a.m. in the McDonald Chapel
    neighborhood of suburban Birmingham, AL, which was struck by a tornado
    on April 8. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Fob James, Jr., and his
    wife, Bobbie; former Senator Howell Heflin; State Senator Sundra Escott-
    Russell; State Representative John R. Hilliard; Mayor Richard Arrington,
    Jr., of Birmingham; Sheriff Jim Woodward of Jefferson County; Pastor
    Homer Jordan of Chapel Hill Baptist Church and his wife, Shelva; and
    tornado survivors Bill and Gayle Reed, Morris and Bonnie Rembert,
    Phillip and Cindy Rutland, whose mobile home was destroyed, and Marcus
    Coleman, widower of Colet Coleman.