Thats the tricky thing, but remember all those documents are still replaceable, you can request a new ss card or birth certificate. Its mainly a time and conveniance thing, if you have had to evac/bugout/relocate/whatever you wish to call it you don't want to spend time trying to replace things, you have enough on your mind already. Imagine the NOLA scenario, you leave and don't know when or if you will come back. You need a place to stay, get an apartment or entended stay hotel or whatever. You need someting to show ID, credit history, etc. If I were a landlord and you turned up from another state with no ID or nothing to proove where you lived I'd have to think a while to decide if I were feeling charitible because chances are you would stay in my place for a month then go back home and not pay and I'd have no way to fnd you, or you were/are a scammer who says you lost everything to get a place to stay until you get eviced then go do the same scam elsewhere. I'm not going to let you sit down at my computer and download your documents from gmail or whatnot. The purpose of somehting like this is to keep you prepared for anything, I can show several documents with my address that I just evac'ed from, I have my latest bank statement showing I have a good amount of $ sitting there ready to pay your rent.