On 12/29/2011 6:12 AM, HeyBub wrote:
....

In my judgement, the SA got a much bigger bang for their buck and the Red
Cross helped more people.

I've been involved in recovery efforts in quite a number of situations
(altho most out here are tornado or other very severe t-storm-type events).

The various aid groups are coordinated at a high level and have
different missions within the overall recover scheme. The Red Cross is,
as said, dominant in widespread temporary housing and feeding and
assisting triage; those efforts are capital-intensive. SA is secondary
level with some overlap but as noted much of their direct on site aid is
actually support for the other workers.

I'm specifically associated w/ the United Methodists; we are the
"long-term last resort" organization that stays around for months or
even a year for those who, for various reasons, don't qualify for FEMA,
aren't insured, have other problems such as disabilities that prevent
working much or any to do cleanup/repair themselves, etc., etc., etc.,
.... There's a lot going on behind the scenes in these events; the
larger the disaster, the more actual organization required to keep the
volunteers and organizations from simply hindering more than helping
from stumbling all over each other. Those efforts do take more than
simple volunteers alone can manage on the spot and the infrastructure to
support the relief is, like anything else, a real cost. Just to remind
folks there's a lot involved beyond the most obvious that everybody sees.

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