As we have seen so many times over the decades, a major disaster frequently results in major assessments of emergency management systems and sometimes results in major changes in laws, policies, regulations, organizations and behavior. [See Emergency Management; the American Experience, 1900-2010]

So it goes in So. Korea, with this article about the post-mortem analyses. Cleary this huge and truly tragic disaster is a “game changer” for So. Korea.  See: After ferry disaster, a Katrina-like reckoning in South Korea. Some excerpts from this WashPost article:

South Korea has a history of disasters, from building collapses to airplane crashes. But the slow sinking of a passenger ferry this month has become its Katrina moment, a failed test of capability in a country obsessed with progress and success.

After decades of development, South Korea has approached Western living standards. And yet the capsizing of the Sewol — with 476 people on board — had the markings of a Third World calamity.