So, at the moment we've got a virus spreading, not even particularly vile (which is of course not an excuse not to contain it etc.). Flu-like virues is something people are fairly familiar with, it's impressive how we've got the genome sequences and strains classified so fast. However, some people have warned/predicted that would happen, you could dismiss this as a hindsight, but still, pandemics are something people can foresee and know how to deal with.
Even more insteresting question, IMO is: how do we prepare for some event we can't even think of?
Is there a good framework for brainstorming and thinking about potential events threatening the whole civilization? Any low hanging fruits (in terms of preparedness and knowledge)?
Q: Will the SARS epidemy of 2002-2003 get repeated? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndr...
A: Yes
Someone said that one of the reasons that Taiwan has controlled the epidemy is that they are preparing for SARS2 since 2002-2003. (And it is an island, that reduce the entry points.)