Nongovernmental organizations set up 19 mobile feeding sites. Mayors from less affected towns were bringing in help, and the National Guard pitched tents and distributed adult and baby diapers, wipes, juice and insect repellent.
But much of the assistance on Saturday came directly from other Puerto Ricans, which set out in small convoys and crammed the highway south from San Juan, the capital, and other parts of the island.
Fifteen members of the extended Ruiz family from Cabo Rojo woke up at 6 a.m. to cook 160 meals of rice and chicken in Raymond Ruiz’s food truck. They packed it in Styrofoam containers, encased them in plastic wrap and drove to the La Luna neighborhood in Guánica, intent on helping people who were making do away from the major shelters.
“Here, my love, God bless you,” Heidy García, 45, one of the family members, said as she delivered the meal and a cold water bottle to María Santiago Lamboy, 82.
“You are saints,” responded Ms. Santiago, who has been sleeping in her car since Dec. 28.
Once they were done at the camp, the family drove uphill, going house to house asking people if they were hungry or thirsty. They crossed paths with a white pickup truck — Sister Julia and Sister Juliana, Dominican nuns in full habit who said their convent had lost two houses. They had still managed to cook a vat of paella on the patio.
Some evacuees, like Luis Quiles Medina, 69, had tears in their eyes as they spoke of their prolonged anxiety over the quakes. “I’m trying, but this just rattles the nerves,” he said. “It’s not easy.”
In a driveway of another house, the Ruiz family held a prayer circle with three families. They, too, wept.