I don't think I can really imagine how it must have felt..
Yes, why on earth do they DO that??Listening to the radio as well-meaning but clueless announcers blathered on about whole towns being wiped out (close, perhaps, but not quite true) and hospitals collapsing (completely false) only made things worse.
I think that is perfectly natural. I remember after a fire I freaked, for a moment, at the smell of smoke for about a year before it passed.In the aftermath, again the range of effects were broad. For my part, I have little residual anxiety over the incident. But I still notice myself paying more attention to the wind, especially during thunderstorms. Others I know grow anxious whenever there is a thunderstorm warning. And at least one person I know has to take a sedative to make it through the storms.