35,000 people arrived at the Astro Dome from New Orleans within a little over a week. I was a volunteer for the Red Cross. When they started arriving, we already had cots, blankets, food, a triage for those who needed help, hospitalization for those in bad shape. Never did any miss a meal. As they arrived with only the clothes on their backs, many without even identification, we had clean towels, showers, and every day they had a choice of clean clothes to choose from. Until we ran out of space, all had a cot to sleep on, then when we started filling up the seats, an adjoining conference center was set up.
Systems were set up to get those without identification (these people fled floods through roofs), transportation to relatives and friends, a post office was put in place for them to receive mail, government aid organizations sat up shop,
I worked several hurricanes in ‘05 volunteering for the Red Cross and I learned that when something happens in the US, the Red Cross already has inspected and approved sites for housing displaced people. They are ready to open immediately. They have trucks already loaded and sitting full (I have no idea how so many cots could come into the Astro Dome so quickly) with supplies. The last time I was volunteering for Katrina, we had over 125 food trucks working out of one area. I am sure -right now- that shelters are already open and food trucks are already en-route to the areas where they are needed from Red Cross headquarters across the nation to the areas just hit with a tornado. If the government would have let them, the Red Cross would have already have been set up in New Orleans when Katrina hit.
They will be the first on-site and probably the last. I don’t have the health (I am 80) anymore, but if you have the health, some time and/or money, all will be put to good use.