Runways get bombed and destroyed during war. The military has "quick-fix" ways of dealing with this ... by patching holes and getting things working again.
War is holes, holes can be patched. How do you deal with runways where half of it has dropped 20 or 30 feet? NOT an easy fix!
We can bypass C-5 airplanes if we have a fleet of heavy-haul helicopters. So the relief goods from around the USA could be funneled to an airport outside the disaster zone, and then the helo's could carry the supplies to military airports and other designated drop-off points in the disaster zone.
I think reality is going to get in the way. For instance, the UH-60 Black Hawk can carry (drumroll!) 11 fully equipped soldiers, or a max. weight of about 12,000 lbs. That's about 1450 gallons of drinking water, minus the weight of the containers. If they give out 5 gallons per person, that's... 290 people. They only need to make 75,862 trips per day! If they have 20 Black Hawks, they each only have to make 3,793 trips per day.
And that just gets it to the secondary drop-off points. Anyone who is mobile is probably going to be afoot, working their way through debris, so how far can they go for 5 gals of water (40+ lbs)?
And that's just water, no food or medical supplies. I just don't think that is going to cut it.
Your idea of 'emergency corridors' is a good one, but even if the military jumps right in, how long will that take? SoCal in the summer, around 20 million people with no water for 3+ days...
The first wave of deaths comes with the earthquake, the second wave due to dehydration? YUCK! The place is gonna stink, for sure! So what's the plan for all the dead bodies?
Early in this thread, Izzy said,
In the middle of my county (Volusia) they're building a giant 35,000 square foot "Command Center" that he pushed through. It looks like Fort Knox and it's not even halfway built.
THAT'S what is needed! Maybe not that big, but strong, stable bunker/warehouses of pre-planned stored water, food and medical supplies. Have them spotted around so people could get to them while FEMA and the military are deciding what to do.
Seattle? Seattle is probably going to consist of piles of rubble crowning seven islands (formerly called 'hills'), with the Space Needle overlooking it. And I hope I'm nowhere nearby at the time.
Sue