Here is a checklist for safe, fast cleanup after a tornado. It's more important if the security of a building envelope was breached, or if a home is uninhabitable.
1. Take photos of the damage. This is important for insurers and the National Weather Service. Get photos of building failure, especially of the "Continuous Load Path" connecting the building to the ground. Get photos showing orientation of the debris. This is used to distinguish tornadoes from straight-line winds of similar speed.
2. Sweep streets of debris, for first responders and heavy equipment.
3. Sweep streets of metal debris, especially building fasteners. Motorists all over Kiowa County reported flat tires from metal building debris after the 2007 EF5 tornado in Greensburg, Kansas.
4. People working amid debris should have:
a) Tetanus shots up to date
b) Shoes with dense lug soles
c) Hard hats or similar helmets if possible
d) Work gloves of leather
e) Safety glasses
f) Particle masks, respirators, or both as needed
g) Personal first-aid kits
"Sort to Save"
5. Pick up "debris" and sort for processing
a) Personal property: collect & remove to safe storage ASAP, away from looters & bad weather. Include all papers, artwork, ceramics, books, etc. which are damaged - they can usually be restored by professional conservators, later.
"Deconstruction, not Demolition"
b) Collect & sort onsite all building wreckage for re-use & recycling, if at all possible.
Categories include, but are not limited to:
Brick
Cabinets, built-in
Dimensional lumber
Drywall
Electrical & communications wiring & conduits
Flooring
Glass (mirrors, windows & auto glass) - wear leather gloves to pick up, collect: sort later
Light fixtures
Mantelpieces
Masonry
Metal, including wrecked appliances
Millwork
Plastic
Plywood
Tiles of ceramic & stone
c) Wood wreckage from trees: sort by size into piles
Leaves: for compost
Twigs: kindling for local campfires and wood-burning heaters, fireplaces, cookstoves
Branches & trunks: firewood, wood products including furniture & craft items
It might be a good idea for some places & people to bring in someone to run a portable sawmill to cut tree trunks & big branches into boards on site. You can use your search engine to look up "portable sawmills," and contact your State or local forestry or agriculture department for referrals. Manufacturers of portable sawmills might also be able to refer you to local operators of portable sawmills.
Recycling sales must remunerate owners, not scavengers or looters. Political jurisdictions, NGOs, local organizations, and companies all could be involved in setting up and operating a system to do this. Many tornadoes happen in rural areas with poor access to recycling programs, especially for people whose cars were also wrecked. Police guarding of sites must continue until cleanup is done.
d) it might also be necessary to sift the top layer of soil, with screens used by anthropologists and paleontologists, to remove small debris and personal property. Testing of the soil for chemical contaminants from broken containers and pipes might also be a good idea. This should be done in small batches, since leaking substances might not have traveled very far. Clean, debris-free soil can be put back where it was, to be used for decorative and edible plantings.
