One of the stories the world media could be focusing on in Japan instead of "Old man crying in front of rubble..." would be to explore how the loss of so many first responders, healthcare facilities and local/ regional agencies is impacting the response in some of these worst hit areas... Much of the community "knowledge pool/ trained resources" has be scattered at least, leaving "outsiders", even Japanese ones, to try to get a grip on deciding where to start tackling problems.
Think about losing your local government, Fire, police, sanitation workers, shopkeepers and knowing you are not only waiting for help to arrive, but also waiting for the resources as well as decision making to be begin to match the needed response.
Being your own First Responder will keep most of us on this board quite busy, assuming we are able, but what of the "clueless"?