There is alays a steep learning curve when it comes to responding to calamities of this kind and Mother Nature does an expert job of keeping us on out toes. The ability to expect the unexpected should perhaps b considered a necessary virtue for pubic pfficials.
The Indian Ocean tsunami that wreaked havoc in southern Thailand and other nerghbouring countries is a prfect example of why that is so.
New policies, organisations and procedures will spring up amid the devastatioon. Expensive new technologies will be deployed and bureaucrats shuffled around. The world of officialdom will appear to be in control, actively responding to needs and crises as they arise.