Locals Fear Loss of Interest in Southern Tornadoes

HARVEST, Ala. (AP) — The Rev. Michael Katschke is worried, but not about running out of the food, diapers and other supplies he hands out to tornado victims at the Crosswinds United Methodist Church in northern Alabama.

Katschke is worried about the rest of the country just moving on.

"They're going to forget us just like they forgot about Japan," he said.

The search for bodies is still going on in parts of the tornado-ravaged South, but the country's worst natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina is already fading from the public consciousness, pushed aside first by the royal wedding and now by Osama bin Laden's death.

That means donations and out-of-state volunteers will likely drop off as the region tries to recover after tornadoes killed at least 329 people across seven states.