I particularly have a hard time believing that there are FEMA camps, although I have seen this meme on the internets.
A personal story about FEMA:
I live in NY State, and we were very hard hit by hurricane Irene back in late August. My neighborhood was evacuated because of flooding, and we were taken by emergency personnel to a local facility where they treated us with respect. They fed us, and they even bought supplies for the animals that we brought along (I brought my two cats).
The aftermath was and remains a nightmare for many of our neighborhood residents. Many have had their homes condemned. I was one of the lucky ones who had less severe damage and my home is liveable. Needless to say, my area was declared a disaster area.
I applied for FEMA assistance for the repairs my home needs, and a FEMA representative came to my home the next day (I kid you not). This rep was thorough and even asked about things that had nothing to do with the flood (like, my central air unit hasn't worked for ages, but he wanted to know if the flood had damaged it). I was honest with him, but it impressed me that he was concerned enough to ask.
I was initially turned down because of "not enough damage", and it was advised that I contact my insurance company. I had already done this, but, since I don't have flood damage coverage, they had sent me a "letter of denial". I decided not to appeal the decision because I felt beaten down (a lot of things were going on in my life).
Well, I got a call from FEMA the week before last asking me to send my letter of denial to them and they "might be able to help me". I faxed the letter, and four days later they deposited a grant into my bank account to fix the damage.
I can't say enough for FEMA.
FEMA camps? Very, very highly doubtful.
= new reply since forum marked as read