Immediate response is mostly concerned with saving lives and eliminating immediate threats. However, what is substantial too is working with survivors with minimal or no physical injuries. These groups are usually displaced in shelters to meet their survival needs. Survivors vary according to age groups or health conditions. These shelters are expected to work in a systematic way to ensure high performance. Lay professional volunteers can assume the role of organizing and management of the shelter. Nurses can be spared for other important tasks such as taking care of the affected people, assessing their health conditions and any special needs and use the available resources to attend to these health needs. Nurses can be responsible for establishing mental services, counseling and providing social support especially that under such circumstances people need to make meaning of what happened and how to adjust in order to be able to continue their lives. Pediatric nurses have the most burden because children unlike other populations need to have an outlet for their energy, have their own ways of understanding and coping to unusual conditions.

Community/public health nurses can serve vulnerable populations during a disaster and assist communities in recovery. This requires expansion of their knowledge by providing state of art training in disaster preparedness.