ANALYSIS –– in the wake of the tsunami, and the tragedy Lara focuses on the riddle, while Jonah thinks about the people. This to me is a perfect example of part of Lara’s personality. She is a very logic-based person; she likes structure, and following a certain path of action. Emotions, while she feels them deeply, aren’t easy for her to communicate, or to feel and touch on. She prefers action, prefers logic, prefers SOLUTIONS. While helping the people is a solution, it’s not something that would resolve the problem at hand.
More than that, though, Lara wants to fix what she’s broken. She doesn’t want to focus on the damage she’s caused, not because she’s selfish, but because she bears so much guilt already, that focusing on it would absolutely devastate her. Because of that, she wants to rush to correct the problem, that way she can stop more people from getting hurt, and clear her conscience in the only way she knows how.