After a disaster, be it natural or human-caused, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will likely be mobilized to offer aid to the survivors and assist in relocation and rebuilding efforts.
Preppers and survivalists do everything in their power to be ready for disaster to strike and to not rely on anyone but themselves for their survival.
While it is ideal to be totally self-reliant and not need the assistance of FEMA, there are a few ways that this government agency can be used to your advantage after a disaster.
FEMA has gotten a lot of flak in recent years for its responses to various disasters and emergencies, especially after Hurricane Katrina.
Yet, despite its shortcomings, FEMA may be of some use to preppers and survivalists.
Disclaimer
Misrepresenting yourself to a government agency is illegal, and I do not suggest that you lie to FEMA. This article is meant for information purposes only. It is intended as an examination of possible methods to interact with FEMA that would be advantageous to preppers or survivalists after a disaster.
Humanitarian Aid
FEMA will be handing out food, water, and other supplies after a disaster.
Taking supplies you do not need is morally questionable at best, but taking your share of the aid that FEMA is distributing and passing it along to other families in the neighborhood is an option that may be worth considering.
⇒The 10 Most Important Survival Supplies The Government Will Be After In A Crisis
You will have to follow your moral compass on this since taking supplies you do not need could be considered stealing.
There will be many families around you who entered into the crisis without an adequate supply of food and water. You may not want to distribute your own supplies to these families, so giving FEMA supplies to them is an option.
Financial Assistance
There is no guarantee that you will be able to collect any disaster assistance. However, you should still apply for every program you can. These programs are imperfect, and the resulting settlements will probably be insufficient.
Still, leaving money on the table is never a good idea. That being said, do not lie or mislead FEMA when applying for aid. Only try to get the assistance you are entitled to and need.
Investigating what types of financial assistance are available well before any SHTF situation is worthwhile. If you choose to apply for them after a disaster, you will have the process figured out beforehand.
Information
The people working for FEMA can be used to gather information about the scale and scope of the disaster, the government’s response, and potential future threats.
You don’t need to be trained in gathering human intelligence to obtain information from these sources.
In a lot of cases, some friendly conversation will get you a long way as you interact with the aid workers in your area.
The key is to avoid pumping them for information immediately. Instead, strike up a conversation, thank them for all their help in supporting relief efforts, then start dropping some casual questions into the conversation.
For Example:
“How widespread was this disaster?”
“How long are you guys going to be in the area?”
“Was anyone else worse off than us?”
“What has the government said?”
“Is the National Guard mobilized?”
“Is there any help from other countries?”
It is surprising how much information you can get from most people with a smile and a handshake, so after SHTF, make a point to strike up friendly conversations with FEMA workers.
Mutual Aid
If you are a prepper, you will have some skills FEMA may want to utilize after a disaster.
A couple of examples of this are that ham radio operators can provide communication support when traditional communication channels may be disrupted or overloaded.
Learn here how you can legally turn your CB car radio into a powerful transmitter capable of emitting and receiving communications from hundreds of miles away.
Naturally, you’re not going to want to help FEMA with little or no benefit to yourselves. If you decide to work with them, you can use their organization to maintain situational awareness of the disaster and utilize any resources within their organization.
You can also influence actions taken in the local area by being a trusted community member because you are assisting them in their efforts.
It is entirely possible that you could get your neighborhood prioritized by making friends with and talking to the right people. The only way you’ll encounter the decision makers in FEMA is to get inside the organization.
Getting Your Neighbors On Board With Prepping Before A Disaster Strikes
It can often seem impossible to convince your neighbors to take preparedness seriously, especially since most people who take prepping seriously come off as ‘crazy survivalists.’
Related: His Neighbor Thought He Was Building a Swimming Pool, But His Idea Was Even Better
It is a bit off-putting for the average person to have someone prepared for a large-scale disaster tell them about preparedness.
For people who are totally unprepared, even the act of getting ready for a short-term emergency is overwhelming. Therefore, it is always easier for people to put things off indefinitely rather than take the preparedness bull by the horns.
This is where FEMA can be of great help.
The FEMA website has detailed information about how to prepare for emergencies. There are many guides and web pages for a variety of individuals and organizations to use to get prepared for an emergency.
Directing your neighbors to the FEMA website is a great way to ease them into preparedness, and letting them know that the government not only wants them to be prepared, but has resources to make it easy, is going to eliminate a lot of their excuses.
Throughout the prepper and survivalist community, FEMA has definitely earned a bad reputation, and there is a significant amount of distrust in FEMA and the government as a whole.
It is easy to look upon them with suspicion, especially when searching any prepper forums will display pages of negative posts about FEMA camps and coffin liners.
The important thing is to be prepared, stay prepared, and only use FEMA for our benefit but not require the assistance they offer.
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