It's a very small example, but the county where I live, true blue Tory, has tended to run on a shoestring and cut things to the bone - trying to get a child a special needs statement before its due for a pension is not easy. Some time back, when Margaret Thatcher had her hands on the national pursestrings, we had a succession of problems.

March 1987, capsizing of Cross Channel ferry. Considerable expense borne by county council.
October 1987, massive wind event with windthrow of trees. Considerable expense borne by county council.
January 1988, heavy snowfall (for areas which don't often get it), roads closed, power cuts, rural areas without supplies. County council appealed to government for help. "You should have had a contingency fund," says Mrs T, who shares Romney's attitudes to national supports for disaster relief, totally ignoring that the county had already used it, twice.

You need some overall fund and administration to deal with multiple contingencies and spread the load, as insurance companies do. It's not impossible for an area to get more than one disaster in a short period. Mississippi valley, floods, earthquake, heavy snowfall. For instance. Even though you're dealing with larger areas than us, you tend to get larger natural problems. Getting rid of FEMA would be daft.

Penny