Quote Originally Posted by Buffalobiian View Post
I'm surprised that after all this time, that there are still people in tents. It's been months since the disaster. Those encampments make it seem like it's been 2 weeks. That said, I'm assuming that there's funding for action.
Several reasons:
1) They are for people who arrived just recently, like Rudeus & Eris.
2) They are for people who are just waiting/looking for family, relatives, and friends there.
3) For depressed, despondent people who learned of the demise of their family and who have got no motivation to leave.
4) The land is totally empty and dead, save for some grass. If they wanted to build anything, they would need to import timber.

It's like one of those refugee camps that exist for years even in our world. Possibly people who rejoined with their family or got back on their feet after learning their family is gone moved elsewhere. It'd be pretty hard to start a new life in that place. Much easier to move to existing villages and towns out there. They would be destitute either way, unless someone, somehow made good money during their long travel back.