JOPLIN, Mo.?
? A shelter can often feel impersonal, uncomfortable, but one little girl tells us it's the only place she feels safe.? The number of those sheltered on the Missouri Southern State University campus as a result of the Joplin tornado has dropped to just a seventh of what it was.
? Most of those people are still there because they've applied to move in to FEMA trailers.
? It's a chance to start over; some say a risky chance.
? "Well I got a call today from FEMA in Joplin."
? The call probably 58 of the 59 people still housed inside one of MSSU's gyms are waiting for.
? "The woman asked me, said 'we're just making sure you still want one.'"
? Sandra Benson was relieved.? Her granddaughter Carly- terrified.
? "My mom said she would get us a house that had a basement," Carly tells us.
? "We will," her grandmother promises.
? Carly has just three fears-- "tornadoes and probably spirits and ghosts."
? The first one tops the list.? She barely survived the May 22nd tornado in an apartment closet; now her family is moving into a FEMA mobile home where the only "safe place" is "outside in a ditch."
? As scary as it may sound, Benson's idea of leaving her trailer for a ditch in the event of a tornado may not be so far-fetched. According to the city of Joplin there is no official public tornado shelter.
? When warnings sounded two days after the deadly tornado the American Red Cross used one of MSSU's basements for shelter.
? "We had 348 clients and the extra 200 that came in the shelter from outsid.? They had homes and places to stay but were scared," says Angela Statton with the Red Cross.
? But when people aren't living there the doors are usually locked.
? "We have limited means along those lines.? We've had what I refer to, and you'll recall I've referred to it, the miracle of the human spirit ever since the storm here," Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr told us Friday.
? Faith helps, but Carly sites facts.
? "Tornado season isn't over yet- it's not going to end til July."
? The family's time in the shelter likely ends next week.
? That's how long Benson estimates she, her daughter, and the two grandchildren will have to wait before they can move into their three-bedroom FEMA trailer.
? In the meantime they'll move along with the rest of the remaining sheltered tornado victims to the Webb City Junior High School.
? City Officials maintain that while Joplin doesn't have a public safe place it does have working tornado sirens.
? The city tested them Monday morning and discovered just a few minor problems that are already being fixed.
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