I think that it's problematic in general to associate values as we understand them with the Elementals anyway. It's difficult to even imagine what the world might be like to them; it's been stated that they don't sense the world in the same way that we do. Accusations of the elementals trying to foster a cult-like mentality might be similar to accusing a gardener trimming a shrub as trying to indoctrinate the plant. Even if a cult is the result, the elementals likely neither know or care what a cult is. They simply want to maintain their world as they believe it should be maintained. Humans can be tolerated as long as they don't rock the boat - because the last time humans rocked the boat, it was a horrendous disaster for elementals and humans alike.

We don't actually know why the Elementals refuse to let the Ala Mhigans receive aid. They might sense some chaotic factor in them that the Elementals find to be unappealing or even dangerous to the Shroud - and given that Ala Mhigo, not so many years ago, was a belligerent, expansionist empire, it's not beyond imagining to think that a few of the refugees might still harbor notions of stirring up trouble. While it seems cruel from our perspective, perhaps the Elementals were able to sense something that we don't see. Perhaps the suffering refugees aren't as innocent as they seem. The actions of the Elementals have been described as seeming inscrutable and random at times, but that doesn't mean that those actions actually ARE meaningless and random.