At the time of the storm, there was an American military fleet in the area which was doing a disaster relief excercise. They had all of the manpower, equipment and supplies to make a huge difference and save many lives; but would not go in without the permission of a punk dictator.
Am I the only one, given the American aptitude and history of invasion and aggression, that finds this ironic and sadly hilarious?
[Viet Nam, Chile, Somalia, Iraq, and so on]
The Americans actually had the 'responsibility', under the United Nations Millenium Commission to render the aid.
As to point #4 below, the legitimate authority was of a way higher level than many of the invasions they had no authority for.
Their lack of response was like a reverse war crime. Many, many would have been saved if they did not high tail the fleet away from the catastrophe.
The World's hero; NOT.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_to_protect
Threshold for military interventions
According to the ICISS, any form of a military intervention initiated under the premise of responsibility to protect must fulfill the following six criteria in order to be justified as an extraordinary measure of intervention:

1.Just Cause
2.Right Intention
3.Last Resort
4.Legitimate Authority
5.Proportional Means
6.Reasonable Prospect