I understand that there were not roads or modern means of travel, but it is is absolutely possible for people without modern technology (people can walk or use animal carts) to provide famine relief, which was common in ancient times.
I will mention a great Bohemian famine in 1769-1773 that caused 1/6 of the population within the Czech lands to die. It was the last great famine that Czech society experienced and one of the harshest. Since the famine happened during Hapsburg reign, there are a lot of information about it from eye witnesses to the state bureaucracy to foreign visitors. Bohemia and much of Central Europe was hit with several years of failing harvests and unpredictable weather. The famine peaked in 1772. At the start of the crisis, the government or nobility ignored it and Empress was not aware of it. Nobility and large estate holders preferred to export grain into Saxony, which was also hit by the famine and the profit from sales was better.
The first attempt to stop the famine came from Joseph II who visited Moravia to meet with Frederick II in 1770. This caused the government to react by banishing an export of food from Bohemia, later extended upon entire Austrian empire. However, this step was not enough to prevent the famine. The government used military supplies and purchased grain from abroad as far as Egypt, it was not sufficient to prevent millions to remain hungry and 300,000-500,000 deaths. The estate holders attempted to circumvent the government ban, and continued to export food to Saxony. Magnates often downplayed or ignored the starving serfs. Many serfs started to rebel and even attacked various manors and looted food storage facilities.
The famine was unstoppable even with a limited government interventions. Cities that served as a seat of the government were better connected with the aid than massive rural areas, but the famine hit them as well. The urban middle class was impoverished and cities were on the verge of the anarchy. Austria had already laid out various roads during Maria Theresa reign, but only small amount of food could be brought from afar. There was just not a way to purchase, transport, storage, and process food for millions of starving citizens. The famine was ended suddenly during rich harvests in 1773 and 1774, which eventually caused a huge anger channeled against the landowners. This led to the biggest peasant uprising in Bohemia in 1775.