And we had no preparedness at the federal level whatsoever, for a storm of that magnitude.

NPR: Roundtable: Rice, Rumsfeld in Iraq, 'United 93'

Bangor's level of preparedness is a model for other airports still struggling to figure out their responsibility for diverted flights.

WSJ: A Tiny Airport Takes on Big Emergencies

The participants of the workshop were oriented with global best practices, structural and non-structural measures including appropriate preparedness measures at school level in the context of school safety.

UNESCO: Office in Islamabad

There has been considerable speculation in recent weeks about the level of preparedness in the UK for a major terrorist attack on the scale of the Bali bomb.

BBC: Call for anti-terror border force

Ultimately, the perception of the level of preparedness and actions of different regions may affect which regions will fare better or worse as the extent of the virus evolves, Merk said.

FORBES: Swine Flu And The Dollar

Which leads us to the next level of preparedness: reaction.

FORBES: In Cyber, Losers Ignore, Survivors React, and Winners Predict

It may also be troubled by unsettling questions about its level of pre-earthquake preparedness.

ECONOMIST: China

There is encouraging news on the level of U.S. preparedness.

CNN: Smallpox, anthrax: What could happen