FEMA has been dealing with conspiracy theorists since shortly after it was created.
In the wake of hurricanes Helene and Milton, an outlandish conspiracy theory about the Federal Emergency Management Agency that has percolated for decades started to reappear online. Now, the government agency is making one of its strongest pushes against the claim to date.
In a new section of its hurricane rumor response page published Wednesday, FEMA looked to put to rest the long-lasting conspiracy theory that’s followed it since shortly after the agency was founded. Known as the “FEMA camps” theory, it falsely speculates that the agency sets up camps meant to “detain people.”
On the page, the government agency wrote that it has recently set up temporary housing for staff responding to the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in a few locations in western North Carolina. FEMA added that there are over a thousand FEMA staff in the state and that the lodging, which is protected by security personnel, is for staff and “not for any other purpose.” It called the “FEMA camp” rumors “all false.”
I worked in community relations with FEMA for a few years starting with the Charlie, Francis, Ivan season. We had threats and used police escorts back then, especially in the rural areas or where there was a high population of evacuees. Our training included how to avoid packs of feral dogs and militia. We often had to hide our insignia the second we weren’t on strictly official duty. There were guns flashed and one shooting that I’m aware of. I personally got screamed at in stores and parking lots fairly regularly. Many people expected we would just hand out checks everywhere we went but considering I was the first person to contact many of them, the best I could do was hand them brochures and tell them where to go for an application.
After Katrina and Rita in New Orleans my friend was the first hellicoptered in with bulletproof gear on and we had National Guard escorts everywhere.
Sometimes the worst people were in rich neighborhoods with a few things on their front lawn from their flooded basement. They were very angry because their insurance didn’t cover them and they had enough income that the government would either not provide any money, or they didn’t think the cap of $1400, or whatever it was, was enough for them. After talking to people who lost literally everything, including family and were bussed to a state they’d never been to before, these people furious about their furniture were difficult to tolerate. But, that anger was very real regardless of how they came to it and it doesn’t surprise me in the least that it might fuel even more distrust of the government.
I saw many things poorly handled that I could never excuse, but the nature of massive disasters is confusion and chaos. It’s an incredibly difficult situation for everyone.
I think the biggest problems I ran into were just a general misunderstanding of what FEMA is and what they do. I even have a tshirt from a local that says “Fix Everything My Ass”. Ironic for me because of course, that’s not what FEMA does but it is exactly what people expected. Hard enough to correct under the best conditions but then we had critically limited communications and the local news would fire up the outrage, sometimes with outright lies. It’s natural to look for patterns and easy solutions in chaos, it’s also good to be skeptical of authority. Those things combined in an environment that is changing so quickly even the people “in charge” can’t keep up from moment to moment, is perfect for fostering conspiracies.
The militia and Klan folks only needed an excuse.
So, you’re not gonna tell us how to avoid packs of feral dogs?
When you’re government has done things like the Tuskegee experiments, poor, rural people are going to be cautious.
