Damage Survey of the Joplin Tornado

On May 22, 2011 a large and destructive tornado traveled through the southern portions of Joplin, MO damaging or destroying thousands of homes and hundreds of businesses. The tornado killed 159 people and injured more than 1,000. The authors conducted a damage survey and rated the degree of damages (DODs) to various damage indicators (DIs) buildings based on the EF-scale. This paper will summarize the results of our damage survey work to include a discussion of fatal flaws observed in building construction and the use of damage indicators not currently listed in the EF-scale.