The widespread opinion is that FEMA has become a federal behemoth that doesn’t deserve the word ‘Emergency’ in its name. They may eventually manage to distribute the funds provided by taxpayers to disaster victims, but their performance in the immediate aftermath tends from non-existent to detrimental.
As President Trump pointed out in California, the insurance companies had been warning them for years about their fire protection practices. They used the money allocated for anything but. Just as @jross describes the government’s requirements for citizens to obtain aid, we need assurances that California will remedy this issue before distributing the massive funds that will be required to rebuild. Maybe they could get some advice from the insurance companies.