Me, Myself & Disaster

It was 1994 and Greg Mullins was camping with his family, when the weather changed and he smelt smoke in the distance. What followed next were some of the most significant bushfires in the State’s history and a moment when the “penny dropped” for Greg that the climate was changing. There’s no denying climate change is already impacting the way we plan for and respond to disasters. With disasters l...

La Niña has made a real impact in Australia over recent months with flooding across the eastern states. Residential properties and infrastructure has been significantly damage and thousands of residents displaced indefinitely. As communities consider their next steps and move forward on their long recovery journey, there has been plenty of debate about whether allowing people to build back on floo...

When the troops left Afghanistan, a crisis continued for the millions of residents who call the country home. 90% of people have lost their income, people can't access adequate heating to survive the freezing winter temperatures and food and water is difficult to find. The country has experienced protracted drought conditions, punctuated by deadly flash floods. These challenges come at a time when...

Social media has redefined how we communicate, particularly during a disaster. In this episode Andrew & Josh speak to Colleen Hagerty and Mar Reddy-Hjelmfelt to understand the impact of social media during disasters. During this extended panel episode, we explore the impact of the recent US Senate hearing, the challenges with misinformation, and whether our guests believe social media has a net ne...

The significant impact of disasters disproportionately affects poorer nations, fuelling a demand for disaster aid. But does the aid provided by wealthier countries have a net positive impact on impacted communities? This week we delve into the challenges of disaster aid and are joined by Professor Simron Singh from the University of Waterloo in Canada. Simron spent ten years researching the indige...

The NSW Minister for Transport and Roads and Member for Bega, the Hon. Andrew Constance MP joins Andrew and Josh on the show this week to talk about the long recovery from the 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires on the NSW South Coast. The threat of bushfires lingered for five weeks on the NSW South Coast before the reached Malua Bay. On New Years Eve 2019, the fire moved about 30-40km closer to the to...

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4UIwYr7fONcq0fE0WjVuNr In 2012, Hurricane Sandy tore a wave of destruction across the United States and the Caribbean, killing 233 people and inflicting $70 billion US dollars of damage. A response from all levels of Government was required, and at a federal level was lead by Craig Fugate, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Craig’s experience in disas...

During the 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires in Australia, debate raged as to whether the 'worst fires in Australia's history' were a result of hazardous conditions caused by climate change, the severe drought or poor mitigation. Josh and Andrew speak with leading disaster researcher and Professor of Disasters and Health at the University College London, Ilan Kelman about whether climate change is re...

When we think about places like Afghanistan, Yemen and Syria, the first thing that probably comes to mind is war. 70% of areas impacted by conflict are affected by disasters, and 30% of disasters trigged by natural hazards occur in countries affected by conflict. Rod Mena joins the show today to discuss disaster risk reduction in some of the most challenging places on Earth. Rod Mena is Assistant...

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5hZKNROixV2CIVBZC8xotM ‘The Disaster Bros are back for an action packed season two – with more interesting guests and tales of disaster from across the globe. Andrew and Josh provide a quick update on what they believe will be the key trends this year and let us know who will be on the show in the coming months.

When an emergency happens, the first responders on scene are almost always bystanders who render first aid and call for assistance. What if those bystanders had the training and skills to save a person's life? This week we were joined by Assistant Commissioner Yazid Abdullah, Director of Volunteer and Community Partnership Department and COL Dr Shalini Arulanandam, Chief Medical Officer, from the...

Earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunami, landslides, bushfires and floods - Chile is one of the most disaster prone areas in the world. Today on the show Andrew and Josh speak with Deputy Director of the Chilean National Emergency Office Cristóbal Mena about the many hazards facing Chile and the level of community preparedness. Cristóbal also shares his insights into the structure of emergency management...

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5hd1Zd0h4mmTrXNP6YBu3J How do you support a community during a disaster, while encouraging residents to become active decision makers and coordinators in the local response? Josh and Andrew headed down to Wellington recently to find out! Dan Neely and Renee Corlett from the Wellington Region Emergency Management Office (WREMO) join us on the show today to explain t...

https://open.spotify.com/episode/59t09a2O37n6OT4qenReb5 From FEMA camps to chemtrails designed to start bushfires – conspiracy theories have been garnering increased media attention in recent weeks as the coronavirus pandemic continues Today on the podcast we speak with political scientist Joseph Uscinski, Associate Professor at the University of Miami about the impact of conspiracy on the d...

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3MspdCudCWpyxWASQxqK4z During disasters we turn to the media for the latest information, to try and make sense of what’s happening. With the rise of social media, there are now more places than ever to find new information and a diverse range of views. How do emergency managers work with the media to effectively provide our communities with the information th...

We speak with Kevin Blanchard, researcher and founder of the #NoNaturalDisasters twitter campaign. Kevin shares his experience and explains why there's no such thing as a natural disaster: "Nature doesn't cause disasters. It's our own failure as a species in terms of planning and policy that's caused 99.999% of so-called 'natural-disasters". Learn why we need to speak about disasters differently,...

In 2011 the city of Joplin, Missouri was severely impacted by a EF5 tornado - one of the deadliest in US history with 158 people killed. Following the disaster, volunteers from across America travelled to Joplin to assist. In nearby Christian County, Director of Emergency Management, Phil Amtower, and Assistant Director, Linda Barger were preparing teams of Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)...

Part two of our conversation with Amanda Lamont explores how we can better create an environment to attract and engage women in disaster roles. We also speak about Amanda's role establishing the Australasian Women in Emergencies Network. Amanda Lamont is the co-founder of the Australasian Women in Emergencies Network and also works on a range of disaster related projects. She volunteers with the C...

Amanda Lamont started as a corporate lawyer working in Adelaide and discovered her passion for helping others after spending a year travelling and working in South America. After a catastrophic bushfire season, Amanda joins us to discuss the unprecedented bushfire season and what this means in terms of 'building back better', community perception of their future risk, investing in recovery and coo...

In the first episode of the Me, Myself and Disaster, Josh and Andrew speak with Anthony (Antz) Rohan who volunteered with the Student Volunteer Army following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Thousands of properties were damaged or destroyed, and spontaneous volunteers were key to the community's recovery. Antz talks about his involvement and the resilience of Christchurch in the years following...