I know what you mean. I was watching a little bit of FOX News this afternoon and could just imagine what it would feel like to see a wall of water coming right at you. I'm glad that the wave never came, but I hope it doesn't make the people less likely to evacuate in the future.
On one of the news feeds, they showed what appeared to be a bunch of surfers sitting up on the edge of the volcano. Crazy dudes that they are.. they might just park the surf board up there and catch that wave.
But yeah, it would be pretty scary because there really is no way to evacuate is there?