[hinkley]

The goal of relief efforts is to get food and especially water in as quickly as possible. Three days without fresh water and you’re already dealing with pathogens.

We take for granted that cargo planes and ships can skirt a tropical storm and sneak in while the trees are still dripping. A dirigible is a fair weather friend. It cannot arrive until relief efforts are well underway. That doesn’t make them useless, but it also doesn’t make them useful.

[DelaneyM]

Don’t underestimate the importance of building supplies and labor.

Food and water are good, though we have a lot stockpiled already, but it’s easy to underestimate how tough things can get in the summer when there’s no A/C or refrigeration in the supermarkets. Heck, it took us a week to get a gas station back online in ‘04, cars and trucks were abandoned on the roads.