Natural disasters and reactions to them

As I write this, Hurricane Ike has hit the Texas coast and will be moving inland. Parts of it will hit the Fort Worth/Dallas area - weakened, but certainly still very damaging. We have been advised to make such purchases as batteries for our flashlights, non-perishable foods items, and the like. Prayers for those in and near the hurricane's path are appreciated.

Anyway, any time that there is a natural disaster, there's two things that happen that I never understood. One is the need for news stations to have their reporters out there at the edge of the storm, reporting on how bad it is. Sometimes they're knocked down by the strong winds or are clinging to a lamp post just to keep from being blown away. I'm not impressed by such reporting. Instead, I think "Get yer butt inside, fool!" Why is this neccesary? Why do reporters' health and even their lives put in danger just for the sake of showing us how bad it is out there? Wouldn't a remote camera do the same? One day, a reporter is going to be seriosly injured or even killed by such foolhardy reporting. I hope I'm wrong.

The other thing that I don't understand is for the need for some people to WANT to stay in the path of danger. I'm not talking about people who CAN'T get out of the way, but those who don't want to get out of the way. People like Harry Randall Truman, who in 1980 felt that the upcoming eruption of Mt. St. Helen's was exaggerated. After the eruption, his body was never found. And he proved what, exactly? The same goes for people who refuse to leave the path of a hurricane. Again, not that they CAN'T leave, but that they don't want to leave. So if they get washed away (and I pray that they don't), what do they prove?

Such events bring out strange behavior, and I just don't get it.

UPDATE: We got a lot of rain in Ft. Worth, but none of the bad weather here turned out as bad as they had feared. Thank God for that, but I will also pray for the people affected by the hurricane, as well as for those involved in rescue and repair efforts.