It goes without saying that natural disasters are the one fear all humans share, taking lives indiscriminately without personal, political, or external motivations. After living in an earthquake-prone area and conducting research on disaster preparedness in California and the broader United States, the severe breakdowns in disaster response alarm me.

About the Bay Area

I’ve grown up being woken up in the middle of the night from small earthquakes and walking to my friends’ houses with smoke hanging thick in the air. I have family who lost their homes in the Palisades Fires. Our failing disaster response systems scares me because I know it could absolutely implicate my hometown and my family.

It was while I was poring through articles for my research on natural disaster response when I realized how pressing this issue truly is. In 2022, n the aftermath of the Oak Fire in Mariposa County, residents had to rely on Echo Company for food and water. Echo Company was previously part of the California State Militia, but was ousted for inciteful and militant behavior. They were handing out recruitment materials alongside aid.

It sounds like the kind of thing that would happen in colonial times. But no. This was 2022. And it wasn’t an isolated incident. From Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to Hurricane Helene in 2024 and many other disasters across the United States, victims have had to rely on, and in some cases, flee from, dangerous militias or otherwise armed and dangerous third parties when local policies couldn’t support them.

Let’s Devise a Local Plan

It is imperative we have laws and policies in place that protect the most vulnerable in our community. I believe that disaster-prone areas should have concrete plans that provide stability in times of conflict. There is no excuse for a government response to be replaced by haphazard relief from a gaggle of armed and dangerous civilians.