Disaster Relief: What Happens When the Government Stops Helping?

A CBP Air and Marine Operations DHC-8 sits on the Tarmac at Marthon International Airport in the Florida Keys after transporting FEMA Adminstrator William B “Brock” Long so he could attend a meeting in regards to Hurricane Irma. Photo by Kris Grogan

As I have written before, in Puerto Rico, the conditions today are unimaginable for most Americans. Some residents have been without power for months, and they have been relying heavily on donated food and water coming from FEMA and other organizations to subsist. Now, those Americans are faced with the departure of federal aid.

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NPR reports that FEMA is pulling out of Puerto Rico, despite a third of the island remaining without power. FEMA says it only estimates that 1% of the island’s population needs emergency food and water. But what if you were part of that 1%? Adrian Florido writes:

In a sign that FEMA believes the immediate humanitarian emergency has subsided, on Jan. 31 it will, in its own words, “officially shut off” the mission it says has provided more than 30 million gallons of potable water and nearly 60 million meals across the island in the four months since the hurricane. The agency will turn its remaining food and water supplies over to the Puerto Rican government to finish distributing.

Some on the island believe it’s too soon to end these deliveries given that a third of residents still lack electricity and, in some places, running water, but FEMA says its internal analytics suggest only about 1 percent of islanders still need emergency food and water. The agency believes that is a small enough number for the Puerto Rican government and nonprofit groups to handle.

Relying on help from the government cannot be your backup plan. Don’t allow yourself to be held hostage to a budget line on a bureaucrat’s desk in Washington D.C. Don’t let a statistical model predict your food and water requirements. You must get prepared.

Step one is to read my series on water storage. Do that before anything else. Step two is to take stock of your food storage. My guess is that you couldn’t last six months on the food you have in your house. If you could, great for you. You’ve done a better job than almost all Americans. If you can’t, try estimating how long you could survive with the food in your house. Remember, when the power is out, and you have no backup energy source, the food in your freezer and refrigerator won’t last very long. Can you last a week? Two weeks? A month? If you said no to any of those, you aren’t nearly prepared.

Get prepared to survive with or without the help of the government. You can only confidently rely on one person, yourself.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.