Hmmm...for post-disaster use I'd personally have suggested an Estwing Rigger's Axe. I think the nail puller notch and hammer face would come in handy with greater frequency than the spikes conventionally found on most 'hawks.
Post disaster isn't quite like building/remodeling. The basic job is to get things apart quickly without much worry about finesse saving trim and nails. The first task is to free trapped victims - a house to house search is necessary to clear what buildings may still be standing and insure no one is stuck under a partial collapse or behind wedged doors that no longer function. Since the able bodied are more likely to evacuate, it's the physically challenged who remain behind and can't climb out windows or free themselves. Dismantling connected stick framing means using a pry bar, and a spike hawk with a convex top can be used for that. The longer the handle the better, up to a point. In comparison, the Stanley Fubar is too heavy to bother lugging around - my son tried it in post-Joplin clean up and it stayed home after one day. The spike doesn't need to be sharp, either, it's basically a wedge to get into a joint to separate connections.
In demolition, same thing. I've used boy's axes taking down lathe and plaster, that and a short crowbar made an nice combination to knock it down. For larger framing a single tool would do as well, which is why I picked up a spike hawk. It's also useful for limbing trees, which is another first stage task - it's hard to get down the road if it's blocked. To cut up a tree that is entangled with another means there are limbs under significant stress Freeing them could result in a kick back that can kill a saw operator. That is how we lost our third victim to a tornado here in 2003.
Chopping the smaller limbs away to view the main branches and trunks is absolutely necessary. Anyone who has cut down trees for firewood understands the process, but those new to it under adrenaline don't see the potential energy stored in a 12" limb bent back at 90 degrees, much less the thousands of pounds of heavy wet trunk that gravity will pull down.
I don't see a short handled hatchet with hammer poll and nail notch being as much help as a spike hawk in that work. Same for opening up cars that have been rolled along the street in 200mph winds - the roof is beaten down and the doors jammed shut. If the occupants weren't sucked out, ejected, or killed outright, then the job is to pry open the most likely opening and remove them in a fashion that won't aggravate their possibly extensive injuries. Again, you need a pry bar with leverage, and the spike hawk does that, too.
It's a disaster in many other ways than worrying about which nail to pull. Most of the injuries after the even is over come from rushing in with the wrong tools in a frantic attempt to free family and neighbors. It's actually a slow exhausting process to make sure YOU don't become another casualty increasing the load on the already overloaded medical system. Joplin had to evacuate a complete hospital with patients undergoing surgery as scheduled at the time. Who knew?
I would look to more than just a hawk for disaster gear - heavy soled work boots at least ankle high are needed to protect the feet in the sharp debris, heavy canvas pants, work gloves, long sleeve shirt, hydration, a dust mask, and some kind of bump cap at the minimum. If it sounds like it's overboard, that was the standard uniform for volunteers here for the entire summer during clean up - in 110 degree heat, the third hottest on record. Most clean up injuries are cuts and perforations from sharp objects, up to and including fatalities from large limbs and trees kicking back or falling. Each of us has to understand what we can spend to acquire the necessary tools we hope we never use, but more importantly, how that tool is shaped to do the work is important, too.
Not to forget that any tool is better than no tool at all - we use them to multiply our rather meager human power to accomplish things we otherwise would never get done. It is important to point out that the RMJ line of tools is selling to those who need a light handy hawk for search and rescue - not an Estwing carpenter's tool. Those are common as dirt and well known, but they aren't getting money spent on them and packed for a tour overseas. Spike hawks are, and chosen by LEO/Fire personnel, too, much less DEA. There's a reason for that, and it's not as a weapon as much as a better choice of tool - for a lot of the same tasks as we need in disaster relief.
