Santa Clara University

Small towns across America are used to being ignored. With a population of fewer than 1,500 Hackleburg, Alabama has no radio or television stations, and there is just one road into the town. It was among the hardest hit by the recent tornados that ripped across the southeast, but it took days for anyone to even locate the town.

Once the Red Cross was able to access Hackleburg, some three dozen people had died, and the town was declared 75% destroyed. The downtown is nothing but rubble and the school was damaged beyond repair.

While residents in smaller and rural communities are generally close-knit and ready to take care of themselves in a disaster, it is important to remember that they also deserve rescue assistance. The friends and family killed in Hackelburg are as precious as those who lost their lives in Tuscaloosa.