They stayed behind rather than evacuating their Louisiana home in the path of Hurricane Isaac. While police and the fire department were unable to reach stranded people using their vehicles, Jesse Shaffer, 25, and his father were able to save dozens of lives using boats.
A gifted musician who was shot in the head during the "Dark Knight" massacre last week will likely not sustain any major brain damage thanks to a birth defect that her pastor called a miracle.
After a massive tornado hit Joplin, Missouri last year, thousands of families whose homes were destroyed lost their most treasured mementos. But thanks to the dedication and hard work of Abi Almandinger, tornado survivors have been reunited with thousands of old photographs that were blown away with the wind and found by strangers. Her webpage, Joplin's Found Photos, acts as a clearinghouse for photos that had been been blown away by the storm.
Tornado survivors in Woodward, Okla., are proving that even in the midst of devastation, treasures can be found and hope can be restored. Over the weekend, disastrous, tornadoes tore through the Midwest, killing six. One family barely got away before their house was completely destroyed. Mom had been watching TV with her wedding ring on the table.
A powerful tornado ripped through West Liberty, Kentucky, last week, making the quaint community look like a war zone. Fortunately, the First Response Team of America was there to help with its specialized fleet of heavy-duty disaster recovery equipment. The team was named CNN Heroes.
Hundreds of volunteers pitched in to help the American communities hit hard by tornadoes that ravaged the Midwest and the South. Some took time off from their regular jobs to work for their neighbors. It doesn't matter if you know them or not... It's a small town; it's what you do.
A teenager from the West Midlands today told how he led a dramatic rescue of terrified passengers as chaos gripped the stricken Costa Concordia cruise liner. Dancer James Thomas acted as a human climbing frame to help 16 passengers into lifeboats after the luxury liner ran aground off the Italian coast, before toppling on to its side in shallow waters.
Some quick-thinking Good Samaritans were lifesavers for a Richardson, Tex. family whose small seaplane crashed into the ocean off the coast of a small Caribbean island near Honduras.
This year marked the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a US Navy base, and a day that will live in infamy. It is augustly remembered by Roger Hare as the day his father survived, along with many of his shipmates aboard the badly torpedoed USS West Virginia, because of the quick-thinking actions of a single sailor named Sylvester Puccio. And Hare wants everyone to hear the story.
It seems whenever we turn on the TV these days we witness disastrous scenes of flooding, fires, and typhoons forcing people from their homes and leaving businesses devastated. Yet, studying the trauma left in the wake of these disasters has provided researchers a way to discover how positive responses can also bloom in the aftermath of trauma.
While everyone watches Hurricane Irene's next move along the eastern seaboard, hundreds of people from around the US are helping organize relief efforts. The help is arriving not only from geographically diverse regions, but also from diverse religious communities, as a Muslim relief agency stands ready to deploy in the emergency response.
Gov. Mitch Daniels joined with officials to publicly grieve at a memorial service today on the site of the tragic Indiana State Fair stage collapse that killed five on Saturday. They also praised the reactions of hundreds of ordinary citizens and off-duty rescue workers who rushed to help the victims.
At least 11 kids and their parents, refugees from Fukushima and other parts of Japan, are visiting Oregon this month and living with U.S. host families as part of a grass-roots effort to give them a break from the stress and health risks they had been facing at home.
Susanne Janson's life was shattered in 2004 when her two young daughters were killed in the tsunami that ravaged Southeast Asia. She found solace and healing by starting a new life in Thailand, where she has provided daily care to more than 100 children in need, as a way to turn disaster into hope.
If only charitable giving was as easy as buying a Coke at a vending machine. Well, now it is—at least in Japan. A Coca-Cola bottling company in Japan and the country's Red Cross have joined together to enable people to make donations by putting money into a vending machine.
Young American volunteers marked Independence Day by continuing their remarkable clean up on behalf of Japan's tsunami survivors. And, their American-style celebration helped to lift the spirits of the struggling community there.
Two months after a tornado destroyed much of the town of Phil Campbell, Alabama, people from around the world named Phil Campbell have descended on the town to make sure the clean-up continues. Men from as far away as Alaska, Australia and Scotland are pitching in and raising money for Phil Campbell.
Stories of people helping each other, often without being asked and demanding nothing in return, were a heartwarming counterpoint to the destruction from unprecedented flooding along the Souris valley in north-central North Dakota. Brought together by word of mouth, church and civic networks, social media and random encounters, those with housing and supplies to spare gave willingly to those without.
Returning veterans find new life as they transition out of war and into a different kind of service, helping homeowners hit by devastating disasters like the recent tornadoes, first in Alabama and now in Joplin, Missouri.
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is one of the many groups that leapt to the aid of communities across six states where homes were destroyed by tornadoes, providing free meals and water, assistance with clearing drives and roadways, and support for other vital needs of families.
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