I think I deciphered what you wrote Desperado, but no, it wasn't about the local folks feeling safer when we were there. The shooting was pretty much over by then, although there was a grenade attack that occurred while we were there.

My point was that the folks there in Panama City had a perception of safety that was incongruent with the reality of the situation, they weren't any "safer" camping out near what remained of their homes than they would have been elsewhere. Given that many of the buildings were near ready to collapse, one could make the argument that they would have been safer in leaving. But they, like people everywhere, were clinging to a notion of safety in familiarity.

Much like those of us who live in California live pretty much in denial about earthquakes and those who live in hurricane zones do about storms. Better the disaster we know than the one we don't.

JohnE