The Red Cross has been providing financial help in the form of debit cards -- the value of each card varies by family size and need -- and directing evacuees to other agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"They've been fairly upbeat," Matterness said. "The biggest concern I've seen is people without their medications . . . but once we get them into a stable environment with medications, knowing where their next meal is coming from, they seem to be able to relax and consider the next step."
The Red Cross's Fairfax/Falls Church chapter has helped more than 100 displaced people. The Arlington chapter has also helped more than 100, and the Alexandria chapter has helped at least 79, officials said. The Catholic Diocese of Arlington, which includes Fairfax and Falls Church, is helping seven displaced families through Catholic Charities, said spokesman Soren Johnson.
Throughout Northern Virginia, school systems are opening their doors to displaced students -- 111 in Fairfax, 24 in Loudoun County, 17 in Arlington County and five in Alexandria. Prince William has enrolled 31 students and expects a dozen more.
Local governments have been sending teams of emergency workers and other personnel to help along the Gulf Coast. Arlington County sent a team of six emergency managers on Sept. 7. Alexandria sent 10 firefighters. Fairfax County sent its renowned search and rescue team.
On Tuesday, a 10-member team representing senior managers from the city of Alexandria and Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties left for New Orleans as part of the region's coordinated response to the disaster. The group, which includes a county executive, a police chief, emergency managers and regional fire department managers, will help with city management.
Officials are working on providing mental health services to evacuees and helping them cope with their new circumstances. For example, most local evacuees are bunking with relatives, often in close quarters, which could become a strain over time, officials said.
Margot Richters, a clinical psychologist in charge of mental health for the 150 or so hurricane evacuees still in the D.C. Armory, said it will take months or years for survivors to recover, even if they are the lucky ones whose family members could take them in. She counsels evacuee families to continue to talk through the tragedy together and to try to reestablish routines as quickly as possible.
"One of the most important things for people recovering from trauma is that initial sense of safety," Richters said. "The second is getting into regular routines, to push to get the kids in school. The same is true of adults. They need to make connections into the community and get back to doing the kinds of things they did before, whether it is attending church or something else. . . . This is going to be really hard for people being displaced from the South, because this really isn't the South. It's really a different pace of life, a really different lifestyle."
For the Chases, reality has not yet sunk in. The family vacationed here with Tana's sister Elise Dubois and her family last month, so to be back in the Dubois family home in the Alexandria section of Fairfax just days later seems a tad surreal.
"It seems like maybe we're on vacation, but we're in school," said Eve, who, along with her brother, has been enrolled in Stratford Landing Elementary.
The two sets of parents have tried to set ground rules as two sets of kids head to two different schools -- the Dubois children are in private school -- and an entire family has taken up residence in what used to be the Dubois children's playroom. Now the room has a table, where Greg has launched a job search using his cell phone and laptop computer, and donated twin beds for the kids, a kitchenette with a microwave and refrigerator, and a guest room and bathroom for the parents.
