[stickfigure]

I think it's a fair question. I suspect the answer is just that it's not economically practical to be professionally prepared for eventualities of this scale. Like small towns with volunteer fire departments, there just isn't enough activity to keep a professional staff employed - at least not a staff big enough to handle a disaster of this magnitude. How many 911 dispatchers would you need? Can the (expensive, purpose-built, locally scoped) infrastructure sustain the volume?

I actually think this is pretty reasonable. We're too used to thinking that bad things are Someone Else's Responsibility. Maybe general-purpose tools (internet, walkie-talkie apps) combined with a sense of civic duty are the solution we should embrace, perhaps with a bit more public training (ala volunteer fire departments).