I was in charge of an event where 400-500 folks would be camping out, in North Texas on Memorial Day weekend. It is not unusual for there to be bad storms then and even tornadoes. I took a top map of the site, with the major camping areas outlined, down to the local office of Emergency Preparedness so they could advise me on a plan in case it looked like a tornado would hit the site. That is all that the government was doing.
Part of it is was a thought experiment based on the current technology. Cell phones and I pads were not considered, today they would need to be. The fact that many folks now have a camera in their pocket changes things.
It like running into your doctor in the grocery store and they ask 'How are you feeling today?" and instead of seeing it as what it was a conversation starter, you 'horriblize' it into you have a fatal disease that your doctor won't tell you about.