Today’s podcast is a little bit different. Instead of me interviewing a guest, I discuss my own research on the topic of disasters and transitions.

I talk about how I got into the topic of disasters and transitions. I explain what is a post-disaster transition to lower vulnerability. I discuss what such a transition would look like and use Cyclone Nargis as an example. Lastly, I discuss why it is important to understand post-disaster transitions and what we can do to make sure that we are less vulnerable to the next disaster.

Podcast Outline

1.      Introduction (0:00)

2.      Introduction section: Big ideas

a.      What first drew me to studying climate change and disasters? (1:02)

a.      What were the main goals of my research? (2:01)

b.      How did I conduct my analysis? (2:24)

2.      Details

a.      Transitions to lower vulnerability and Build Back Better (3:26)

b.      What would such a transition look like? (5:08)

c.      Choosing case studies: Hurricane Katrina and Cyclone Nargis (12:21)

d.      What did the transition in these examples look like? (14:40)

e.      What factors can make a transition successful? (21:05)

3.      What does it mean

a.      Why it is important to understand the relationship between disasters and transitions (23:29)

b.      What can the public do to address some of these problems? (24:40)

c.      What types of policies would you recommend to deal with these issues? (26:21)

4.      Signoff (27:47)

The music is by bradleyparsons

What to know more about this topic? Check out the link below:

Becker, S. L., and D. E. Reusser. "Disasters as opportunities for social change: using the multi-level perspective to consider the barriers to disaster-related transitions." International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 18 (2016): 75-88.