TO THE 935 pupils at St Herman Nkoni primary school, on the Masaka-Mbarara road, the slight, bookish-looking, soft-voiced man with the thick-lensed glasses was a pretty good head teacher.

Tuscaloosa Mayor Maddox told CNN that the twister literally obliterated blocks and blocks of the city.

Since the breakup of her marriage three years ago, Gil and her four children have lived in a single room in her brother's house on the outskirts of a small town, Samacá, about 160 kms north of Bogotá.