tradegies were always part of the jewish community. In fact in most shuls more people were saying Kaddish than not , so they had to limit the number of people saying Kaddish
The difference is today we have “instant news” so we know about something that happens in another part of the world almost instantanious.
In prior generations do you really think the jews of Pressburg knew that a small baby died in Bagdad? Of course not, Tradgities are actually less today than they were in previous generations