President Barack Obama visited Joplin, Missouri Sunday where he promised to help rebuild the tornado-ravaged town. The president, returning from a six-day trip abroad in Eurpoe, surveyed the devastation from the ground and from the air, offered condolences to survivors and pledged help from the federal government.

The president's visit comes one week after a massive tornado tore through Joplin, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

"The main thing I want to communicate to the people of Joplin is this is just not your tragedy," he said. "This is a national tragedy, and that means there will be a national response."

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the destruction in Joplin that killed 132 and caused an estimated $3 billion in damages was deemed the 8th deathliest tornado in the U.S. Bloomberg reported. 

Bloomberg reported:

There have been 1,314 tornadoes reported in the U.S. in 2011 through May 24, compared with 1,282 in all of 2010, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NOAA has listed the Joplin tornado as the eighth deadliest in U.S. history. The 132 deaths surpass the 116 people killed June 8, 1953, when a twister hit Flint, Michigan, in what had been the largest toll since modern recordkeeping began in 1950.

The deadliest tornado in U.S. history was a tornado that swept a 291-mile path across Missouri, Illinois and Indiana on March 18, 1925, killing 695, NOAA said on its website.

Read more here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-29/obama-to-offer-comfort-condolen...

Aside from federal support, others initiatives have been taken to assist in the recovery efforts. Famers Insurance announced May 22, that they had Mobile Claims Command Center (MCC) and Mobile Customer Care Vehicles (CCV) setup in the Joplin area to offer, "satellite communications equipment, satellite based cell phones and laptops, water and emergency supplies for our customers and non-customers alike."