    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
    [May 8, 1999]
    [Pages 730-731]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following a Walking Tour of Tornado Damage in Del City, Oklahoma
    May 8, 1999

        Thank you very much. Governor Keating and
    Mrs. Keating; Congressmen Istook and Lucas; I don't know
    if Senator Nickles and--there he is, over there.
    Thank you very much.
        We have, obviously, James Lee Witt, our
    FEMA Director, here with me, and Buddy Young, his Regional Director, and many others here: our SBA
    Administrator, Aida Alvarez; the Deputy
    Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Saul Ramirez; Mayor Lewis; Mayor
    Nelson; Mayor Reed; and a lot of other Oklahoma State officials who are here.
        Let me say to all of you, I was talking last night to my wife, and
    we were remembering all the tornadoes that we dealt with when I was
    Governor of Arkansas. You may know that our two States have the highest
    incidence of tornadoes in the entire country. I have been going to these
    sites for 20 years, most of them with James Lee Witt, and this is the most devastating tornado I have ever
    seen. I have never seen so much complete destruction of homes over so
    wide an area. And of course, you know that at least for a couple of
    communities, the measurement of the tornado was virtually off the
    charts.
        And I just want you to know--and I came into this neighborhood
    today, and I saw all these American flags sticking up, all the people
    rooting around in the rubble of their houses, looking for those family
    photos and the marriage licenses and the other records of family life,
    but with a strong spirit. It was profoundly moving to me.
        And I want to say that our hearts go out to those who have lost so
    much and, obviously, especially to the families of those people who lost
    their lives. But we also thank you for setting an example of what is
    very best in this country, the way you have reacted to this.
        I want to say a special word of thanks to the police and fire
    personnel, the National Guard, the Red Cross, all the people who
    volunteer, the young AmeriCorps volunteers over there, everybody who's
    been a part of this. I am very grateful. And I'd like to thank the
    citizens of Oklahoma. When the Governor said
    there had not been a single incident of looting, even though there had
    been no curfew, I think that says it all. And again, let me say to all
    of you, I am profoundly grateful.
        There are a couple of things that I'd like to say that we're trying
    to do in addition to what you know already. FEMA has got a 1-800 number.
    We're trying to get in touch with all the businesses, as well as the
    homeowners and the people who have lost their cars and other things. But
    we also are today going to make available about $12 million from the
    Department of Labor, which will provide 3,500 temporary jobs that will
    be directed to people who lost their jobs because their businesses were
    taken out by the tornado.
        And these jobs--though obviously they pay better, a lot better than
    unemployment compensation--so we can put several thousand people to work
    in the reconstruction process, everything from delivering water and food
    supplies to doing cleanup to actually helping on some of the
    construction crews. We'll be able to do that. We talked with your
    congressional delegation today, and we're going to look and see if we
    can do more.
        But there will be several people here who will be out of their own
    jobs for months while the rebuilding occurs. And we're going to go back
    to Washington, try to figure out exactly how many people are going to be
    out of work, for how long, and try to make sure we can provide funding
    for work that actually needs

    [[Page 731]]

    to be done. We don't have to make up these jobs. You can look around.
    There's a lot of work that needs to be done here. So we'll try to do
    that.
        The second thing that I wanted to mention, that the Governor has
    talked a lot about, is that I want to thank everybody who was involved
    in the weather warning because hundreds of lives were saved by that: the
    people at the weather service; the people here in Oklahoma who worked on
    this; the law enforcement people that went up and down the streets and
    blared their sirens and were on loudspeakers; the television stations
    that showed the pictures and the patterns and predictions. Over and over
    and over, people say how grateful they are for that.
        We are working--and one of the things that is in the balanced budget
    this year that I very much hope will pass is several million dollars
    more to develop the next system of Doppler radar, which the
    Governor reminded me was developed here at the
    University of Oklahoma. And I think it's very important that we continue
    to improve that.
        I also very strongly support establishing a national weather center
    with the help of Federal funds at the University of Oklahoma, to see
    what we can do not only to provide even better warning but perhaps to
    dilute the strength of some of these very powerful tornadoes before they
    hit, and we'll be working on that.
        The last point I would like to make is something I'd like everyone
    who lost a home to think about. We believe--no, I take that back--we
    know that lives can be saved under almost all conditions if there is at
    least one room properly encased and protected with concrete in a house.
    Now, in the loans which will be given for rebuilding the homes, 20
    percent of the loan money can be used for protective purposes, for
    preventive purposes. Isn't that right? Yes--to make safe rooms. The
    average cost of one of these safe closets, if you do it with a closet,
    is only about $2,000. The Governor will have
    discretionary funds available from the Federal Government that will
    actually permit him to contribute some of that money to families whose
    incomes are so modest they can't afford it on their own.
        So if you don't remember anything else I say today, remember this:
    For goodness sake, build a safe room in your house when you rebuild. Go
    in and do the--any kind of alterations you have to do. It will be the
    cheapest $2,000 you ever spent. If you don't have the money, get in
    touch with the right people at the State. We'll try to get them enough
    money to provide some help. But we will be able to save nearly everybody
    if we can do this. And in this rebuilding, once again, Oklahoma can show
    the way for America, if the word gets out that everybody here is
    determined to have one of these safe, reinforced closets in their homes.
        We can't promise you that there will never be another tornado. We
    can promise you we'll do our best to continue to improve the warning.
    We'll see if the frontiers of science can widen to the point where we
    can dilute the strength of the storm. We'll put Oklahoma at the center
    of that.
        But you can do something to help and to set an example for people
    throughout the United States in the areas that are vulnerable to
    tornadoes, by rebuilding with these safe and reinforced rooms.
        Again, I'm sorry. Our hearts are with you. We'll be with you
    throughout the rebuilding. But thank you--thank you for once again
    showing the whole country what is best about America.
        God bless you. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:40 p.m. in the Del Aire neighborhood at
    the corner of 42d Street and Angela Drive. In his remarks, he referred
    to Gov. Frank Keating, and his wife, Cathy; Federal Emergency Management
    Agency Region VI Director Raymond Lloyd (Buddy) Young; Mayor Glenn Lewis
    of Moore, OK; Mayor Harry L. Nelson of Del City, OK; and Mayor Eddie O.
    Reed of Midwest City, OK.