OKC mayor: 12,000 homes damaged in storm

(CNN) -

The lone, tattered page from a decimated children's book sat quietly amid the rest of the rubble. But the words spoke volumes about the pain and nostalgia in the city of Moore:

"I remember my old house,

Its rooms so bright and wide.

Its halls will echo for all time,

With the laughter heard inside."

Mark Toney found the battered page while volunteering with LifeChurch.TV.

"It more than likely came from a house that had been demolished," said fellow volunteer Jared Bowie, who was with Toney at the time. "Then I thought about how many houses were full of laughter and memories."

At least 12,000 homes were damaged or demolished from Monday's abysmal tornado, Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said. The twister killed 24 people, including 10 children, and injured 353 in central Oklahoma.

With everyone missing now accounted for, the daunting road to recovery is underway.

Throngs of volunteers have come to Moore to help. Each has a poignant tale about the breadth of the human condition.

Juan Olivo started searching for survivors as soon as the storm passed. He documented the search on video.

"Is there anybody here?!" he bellowed as he walked past heaps of debris.

In the distance, deep under a mound of shredded lumber, a man's voice replied: "Here!"

Olivo and other volunteers raced to the wreckage.

"We're gonna get you out!" Olivo told the man.

He later told CNN's iReport he was stunned at the discovery.

"The odds of me filming and capturing this man cry out for help is one (in a) million, and I'm happy he is alive," Olivo said.

Demands for storm shelters

Of the 10 children killed by the tornado, seven were inside Plaza Towers Elementary School. The twister crushed the school and reduced it to pieces.

Kyle Davis, 8, was one of the victims.

"I am angry to an extent. I know the schools did what they thought they could do but with us living in Oklahoma, tornado shelters should be in every school," Kyle's mother, Mikki Dixon Davis, told CNN's Kyung Lah.

Her daughter, who was also at Plaza Towers when the storm struck, survived.

"There should be a place that if this ever happened again during school that kids can get to a safe place," Davis said. "That we don't have to sit there and go through rubble ... and may not ever find what we're looking for."

Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis said he would push for a law requiring storm shelters or safe rooms in new homes.

"What we will do is get the stakeholders here in the city ... and we'll discuss what we think we need to have," Lewis said.

Source: http://www.kjct8.com/news/oklahoma-tornado/-/163152/20267620/-/12sa5iiz/-/index.html

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