Adults frequently misdirect their anger toward spouses and children. The woman had lost two other children in a quake in her native Guatemala. Experts give several reasons. It's layer upon layer. And what this does is magnify people's reactions.
Women appear to take it harder than men.
One hypothesis is that the female nesting instinct is especially offended by a quake's threat to home and hearth. More manifestly, women are more demonstrative and vocal about their anxieties. Men, who may be just as nervous, are culturally conditioned to hide it. Experts disagree about the probable duration of the stress. The damage is nothing.