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It is folly to try to relate the fall of the Mayans to the United States or any other western country. The threat to the world right now is the refusal of a large part of the world to emerge from the days of the Mayans. There is an unsustainable tension between the people that are in the 21st century and those of the 7th century that continue to demand their right to live their primitive lives while at the same time asking the rest to provide the aid required to sustain their every day needs. There is no excuse for countries like Indonesia that is tremendously wealthy in natural resources and population to not have the infrastructure required to withstand a disaster even as large as this one. When 2/3 of the worlds population is dependent on the other third for just their every day existence then that is the threat to all of the western world NOT the environment.

When 2/3 of the worlds population is dependent on the other third for just their every day existence

. OTOH, 4% of the world is dependent on resources from the other 96%. I'm not sure the U.S. (and the other richest nations) would be dominant if they lost access to those resources, or had to compete with the rest of the planet for them on a (hypothetical) even playing field.

You wrote..

There is no excuse for countries like Indonesia that is tremendously wealthy in natural resources and population to not have the infrastructure required to withstand a disaster even as large as this one.

If a similar sized tsunami had arrived on the west coast of the USA on a warm summer morning the destruction and loss of life would be similar to what happened in Indonesia. Tsunami early warning systems are required for all countries which are not land-locked. This measure will save huge numbers of people in the event of another tsunami.