I can agree about gov't sucking big time in a general sense. So, why do you trust SAR not to loot when they go in and out of houses, but not related responders?

My opinions are based on two things: Extensive first-hand, on-scene experience in a variaty of capacities in basically every type of natural and man-made disaster the US has experienced over the last quarter century, and my research as a lawyer and academic in this field.

It may seem unrealistic to you, but that's the way it DOES work, in broad general terms, albeit with fits, starts, hiccups, outright failures, political incompetence and other problems large and small along the way, and limitied to ordinary-scale regional domestic disasters, not truly national emergencies like all out nuclear war or asteroid strikes.

More specifically, I've run shelters, worked at shelters, supported shelter operations, and inspected shelter operations. I know shelters, at least so far as they have and do operate in the above-described situations. If somebody tries to take your stuff, which I have NEVER seen or heard happen, I advise you go get the cop that is usually standing around nearby, and RAISE HELL.

Jeff