After tornado, city swiftly compiles assistance guide

In the days after a tornado roared through the city’s south end on June 1, Springfield officials compiled a wealth of information designed to aid victims and accommodate volunteers.

The “Tornado Assistance Resource Guide,” posted on the city’s website (www.springfieldcityhall.com) in both English and Spanish, runs to more than 2,000 words. Sections include “Emergency Shelter”; “Home Safety” (such as a warning that tarps used to cover damaged roofs must not obstruct chimneys or ventilation systems, which could lead to carbon monoxide poisoning); and means for people who had been displaced to let friends and family know that they were safe.

Another section lists opportunities to volunteer or make donations. There is also information for disaster-related unemployment insurance, counseling, and free legal assistance for tornado victims from the Hampden County Bar Association.

Immediately after the tornado, when many residents were without electricity or Internet connections, much of the information was handed out on flyers or dispersed through the city’s 311 call center, according to Tom Walsh, the city’s communications director.

A mayor’s office aide, Jose Delgado, posted the bilingual information on the website on June 3, the day City Hall reopened after a one-day closure.

Walsh said that the information was updated almost daily over the following week. One of the new notices provided revised information about where feeding stations had been set up for people who had been left homeless. Another had information about how individuals could get copies of birth certificates and other documents that might be required in order to apply for assistance. A third update clarified what it meant if officials had marked an X on a structure.

“It didn’t mean that the building had been condemned; it just meant that it had been searched,” Walsh said. “We had to find a way to get that information out to people.”