The Effects of Midwest Tornadoes

Well the past couple weeks have been pretty active with significant events to blog about. While having something to post about usually means loss or suffering for the area that's effected, the simple fact is that we live in a a world where mother nature is constantly active, and hazards are a way of life. Really, there's no new news to post about from the article I read regarding the tornadoes that hit the Midwest last week. Reference my previous blog post about the facts regarding the initial finding on the tornadoes. What I found interesting, and equally important but often ignored, was the now fallout for businesses and different business industries from the tornadoes. This goes back to the swiss cheese model that I've referenced multiple times in blogs over this semester, but the tornado is ultimately just the first step of a a chain of related events. We've talked about a few times in class how insurance plays a part in hazards when it comes to paying for the damage done. This is really the first article I've read and posted on that references insurance companies and the mass payout. State Farm insurance, which insures nearly a third of all the homes in Illinois, are beginning to payout expense checks to the nearly 3,600 claims made. You also have the hotel industry, who sees a massive increase in business from the storms. I find all of this very interesting, specifically the insurance aspect. Very rarely do we see articles written on hazards that talk about these types of aspects of hazards, but they are important to remember that there are multiple effects long after the hazard hits. http://www.wunderground.com/news/midwest-tornado-update-some-illinois-schools-reopen-fema-begins-assessing-damage-20131122