My understanding at the time, it was incredibly difficult for anyone to check anything. You had people moving around everywhere from friends, family, shelter to shelter, hotel rooms and any permanant contact information was largely irrelevant since it was by and large destroyed/uninhabitable and things like phone lines down...Not to mention many people that fled their homes didn't bring or lost important documents like social security cards, driver's licenses, etc...

So the people fill out the forms with bogus information that on the surface checked out...

How you going to find them? You gonna tell people that were, at a minimum, without many basic necessities for around a week that they'll have to wait another week for the background information to filter in and be checked?

Don't get me wrong, I abhore the gross abuse of the charity and good will of the american public, but I also think it unfair to fail to take into consideration the conditions at the time...