I can completely understand where you're coming from. I also am fascinated with the power of mother nature. Just last month we had a Winter storm brew up some Severe Weather that ended up spawning a Tornado a mile away from me. For once I was somewhat scared. Living in Los Angeles I'm not used to 100mph winds, destructive hail, blinding rains, Deafening thunder, etc....Mother nature was angry, Very angry. However I was the idiot on the front porch watching everything perspire..
This is no exception. Millions tuned into the news to watch in amazement, a Tsunami slam into Hawaii..however I think something interesting to note here, It's not just thousands, millions of US residents tuning in to watch the oceans force slam into a US island, It's the thousands of "Residents" of Hawaii that live there that were also rushing to some point of the shore to watch in amazement themselves.
In regards to the Tsunami yesterday it did have some "different" effects on parts of the west coast..In particular it sucked some of our ports somewhat dry to where boats and ships could not pull into port and dock. There are a few videos on Youtube that show a cove in Hilo, That has an awesome time lapse that shows the effects of a Tsunami. In the end, Peoples prayers were answered and there were no reports of damage.