I agree with this one point you made here. I was once trapped in my house by mudslides and washed out roads in every direction and the only way out turned out to be on foot. Relying on my car would have kept me stuck there with inadequate food, dwindling supplies, and no TV for weeks. I rode my scooter as far as it could take me, until the slides were too thick to get through. Then I hoofed it the rest of the way. In a few places I started sinking into the mud and I almost panicked I would get stuck. I almost lost my shoes. I passed an abandoned car sunk in the mud up to the wheel wells. But I made it. A car would have been useless. A bicycle might have been very useful, at least on the other end of the mud slides, which by the way spanned several miles. Once I got to where I needed to go, I needed transportation. A bicycle would have been helpful.

As far as those poor people being unable to escape. I can't know what they were thinking but if it had been me, here's what I'd have been thinking: No way in hell am I leaving. You can evict me. Do the formal proceedings. That'll take months. If I leave voluntarily I'll have no home to come back to. All the stuff I can't take will be thrown out by the landlords. They'll rebuild luxury condos and jack up the rents and I'll end up homeless anyway. So what the heck. You do a formal eviction and meanwhile I'll get to keep my home for just a little while longer. Maybe not totally logical, but that's how I'd play it.

Ok, end of off-topic stuff. Perhaps bicycles should be donated to the relief effort because those folks that have been relocated probably left theirs behind, if they had them.