Well, the main reasons Katrina was discussed so much were:

We could see it coming.
We know lots of people affected by it.
It was badly handled.
Resources which were available were not used/much delayed.

As far as I can see none of these are true for this earthquake.

So, on one hand we have a relativly common occurance ( an earthquake killing tens of thousands, simply because it's in a poor area). These come round every year or two. On the other, the aftermath of Katrina was a once-in-a-lifetime event for The US.