After the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, the Marquis of Pombal sent a questionnaire to every parish in Portugal. The questions were strictly factual: when did the shaking begin, how long did it last, did the sea rise or fall first.
The replies are still archived, and modern scientists have used them to reconstruct the quake and the tsunami. It is the reason Pombal is often called a forerunner of modern seismology. The story is told in the standard histories of the earthquake.
What stays with me is the instinct. A capital in ruins, and the first reflex of the government was to ask precise questions before it settled on what the disaster meant.