My favorite quote from the whole post-Katrina reviews and hearings was when the spokes person from FEMA said something to the extent of...

We need to have the right plans and equipment in place, along with the proceedures that will allow us to say, we're from the Federal Goverment and We're here to help... and not have everyone laugh.

So to say the goverment wants you to be prepaired would be an understatement. If you expect the goverment to provide for you, then that's your own damn lazy fault.