The most startling thing about disasters, according to award-winning author Rebecca Solnit, is not merely …
"Elites fear disruption of the social order, challenges to their legitimacy." She reversed the image of a panicking public and a heroic minority to describe what she called "elite panic." She itemized its ingredients as "fear of social disorder, fear of poor, minorities, and immigrants; obsession with looting and property crime; willingness to resort to deadly force; and actions taken on the basis of rumor.
— A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit (Page 127)
Media perceptions of the ways people react to disaster are cynical, twisted, and overblown. Even when looting and property crime happen, its typically in the name of survival. Even when it's in excess of this - people running off with luxury items - it's a reflection of a society in which wealth is in the hands of the few and the poor are denied anything of value.