Tragic, all the more so if it was preventable

When terrorists strike, immediately everyone thinks, what could prevent this in the future? People wonder, "Why do they hate us?" or "How can we get back at them?" While earthquakes and tsunamis cannot be prevented, and while the "enemy" is nature and thus cannot be taken to the UN and given a good talking to, or even be invaded by US armed forces, the tragedy in the countries on the Indian Ocean seems more upsetting than it would otherwise (if such a thing is possible) when you consider that, according to scientists, the devastating effects of the tsunami were preventable:

"...Dr. [Tad] Murty said that India, Thailand, Malaysia and other countries in the region had 'never shown the initiative to do anything.'" He added, "'There's no reason for a single individual to get killed in a tsunami...The waves are totally predictable. We have travel-time charts covering all of the Indian Ocean. From where this earthquake happened to hit, the travel time for waves to hit the tip of India was four hours. That's enough time for a warning.'"

According to the NYT, had the Indian Ocean been as well-monitored as the Pacific, most people in the affected countries could have been saved. When natural disasters happen, people (myself included) have a tendency to throw up their arms and say, "This is awful, but inevitable." But it appears that, with current technology being what it is, deaths from terrorist attacks and natural disasters alike are results, in one way or another, of governmental ineptitude, not of mysterious forces beyond the control of mankind.