>I saw news reports that some of the Asian governments admitted they could have warned people before it hit, but they didn't.
Quite likely, they didn't take the warning signs very seriously - that is, they didn't think that it was really going to be that bad.
Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire... (from Gulliver's Travels)