A recap from a historian (maybe with some direct connection with survivors too; missed intro) Clara Barton was there with 8 people initially; she was so universally respected that people all over began sending $$ to her.

(Dunno if this was the first significant Red Cross founding/funding activity or not?)
She managed to get local middle-class white women on the oversight boards (for the first time) - by pointing out that they'd always been doing this sort of work in any emergency, anyway.

Fingers crossed for those poor bastards - gather that Max Elevation on the island is +9 feet!