How can an explosion feel more intense to someone that is farther away?

A few years ago a house blew up nearby.
At the time my sister was living in an apartment building not far from the explosion site. She said that they heard the blast, but it was faint, they couldn’t feel anything, yet they could see the smoke and fire.
I happened to be just 1–2 miles further up the street when the house exploded. On the contrary, the whole house shook. It was so loud we were shocked… in fact, we immediately thought a car had run into the house. It was that intense.

So if my sister was much closer why is it that they hardly felt/heard anything, while a mile or two away we were being rocked out of our seats?

Is this a stupid question? I can’t figure it out for the life of me.