 If you watch disaster videos, this study will surprise you. I'm Cooper Lawrence, health and wellness expert, and this is all well and good. When a natural disaster occurs like a Cat 5 hurricane, most of us flock to social media and watch for hours. But maybe it worries you that you're being ghoulish or are engaging in some sort of disaster rubbernecking. A new British study finds nothing can be further from the truth. Researchers made two surprising discoveries. One, people watch because they're from the area and they have great empathy for its current residents.