Why do people stand and watch disaster approaching? (Pic)

[SoCalDem]

This photo was snapped by a surfer ..obviously from a balcony.. LOOK AT ALL THE PEOPLE on the beach, just watching as the ocean bottom all of a sudden was exposed by the water receding.. What were they thinking?? Were they thinking? Instead of turning around and running for their lives, and warning everyone, they stood there and WAITED for what would definitely happe... The water would return...with a vengeance.. SOME of them HAD to know what would happen, but they were mesmerized by nature. Like kids at a scary movie, peeking from their hands-covered-eyes, wanting to see what happens.

I once stood next to a wall of sliding glass doors watching a tornado rip mature cottonwood trees out of the ground like matchsticks. Five grown women stood there hypnotized by what we were seeing, even as debris hit the sliding doors.

I guess they could not believe their eyes:(




(gallery at http://www.surfingthemag.com/gallery/tsunami04/gallery )