it s doing. it s taking houses off. if you re in the bathroom and there are no walls left, that s why they say that. erin, again, to walk through to see the shattered classroom, to stand in places where the tile is down below you but there is nothing there, the building is simply gone. there are pieces tossed from homes. as walk around the school grounds, there are vehicles that came from miles away. miles away. carried by the tornado. so that was ground zero. that is where the storm hit hardest and certainly, again, so many were lucky to be in the safe place, to be protected by the teachers the best they could do to be rescued by the first responders there. but for those that have children, certainly seven lost their lives at this school that, will be a question for the parents, for local officials, for the educators and governor, for washington. should you have a school, should a school be allowed, a school here be allowed to have the minimal precautions that were in
seven kids who died at their school today we learned were crushed by tornado debris. the question is would they be alive if that school had a storm shelter? they didn t have anywhere to go other than an interior room. could the city, the state, or the federal government have done something to prevent the magnitude of this tragedy? those are key questions as president obama prepares to visit the storm ravaged area sunday. today secretary of homeland security janet napolitano was there. the death toll stands at 24 from the tornado. john king is in moore, oklahoma, tonight where he got a tour of the rubble left behind plaza towers elementary school. john, that key question, people seem to be asking, parents we re going to hear if later on tonight is could the deaths at that school have been prevented? erin, it certainly is a fair question. when you walk through that school, i don t care if you re a journalist, you being a parent
against the reds in about an hour. thanks for talking to us. how is your family doing? your relatives still here. they re doing well. thanks for having me. i had most of my dad s family lives in that area. and thankfully everyone s safe and all their homes are safe as well. what was when you heard the news, when you were watching the images on tv to know this area so well, what was that like? you know, i was really helpless. it was gut wrenching. i wanted to be there and help my fellow oklahomans. i was sad i couldn t be there in that moment. but the way the first responders responded and civilians, the way they went into the school and tried to help those kids, i mean that just shows the type of people that are in oklahoma. and, you know, last night i interviewed a teacher from briarwood elementary who was just amazing. she got all the kids underneath their desks. she had them playing music and a game during the tornado to try
something like that. we re about to mark the two-year anniversary on joplin. some folks are coming here for advice. now, one of the best stories to emerge from this disaster, it begins outside briarwood elementary school. frantic parents search for their kids. we just wanted you to watch this so that you understand and you don t need to see the video to understand what it s like for parents to watch what s happening to their children. this was in the school parking lot.
families that are still looking, that have lost their children. i just can t imagine it. i work at a school, i m fortunate at the school i work, at the high school, we had a safe room. the may 3rd tornado destroyed the high school. we had a safe room, we were all in it. at the same time, my son was one mile away and there was no shelter and no safe room. my dad tried to pick him up, but they wouldn t let him leave because the storm was that close. i m grateful my dad got back home. all my family is safe. it s wonderful. we have a big concern because we need shelters. we need safe rooms for our kids. at the same time, i know that i just can t believe how many blessings and how strong our family, our friends and the support we ve got and how big our god is.