[speeder]

My limited personal experience with FEMA, (1994 Northridge earthquake), was that they were extremely helpful and efficient at giving out $$. It's a department of the govt. that is basically about giving away $$ to people affected by disaster, kind of the opposite of the IRS. Politicians look bad when people don't get relief and get it quickly, so they direct FEMA to spend their mandate in any given disaster zone quickly and without glitch.

That's my experience, anyway.

As for insurance paying for crazy expensive houses and what was in them, I guess it depends on how much coverage the person had. One difference between the Palisades and most places in the USA is that the land is worth WAY more than the structure sitting on it. So even if your house burns to the ground, you still own something very valuable, unless the bank owned the whole thing.