Emergency Planning and Recovery from Disaster with Prof. Lucy Easthope

Crisis. Conflict. Emergency Management Podcast

Global perspectives and conversations about international crisis, preparedness, and how to build more resilient societies in a challenging and ever-changing world. As the world moves to reduce risk to global threats, we need to recognize the vulnerabilities, connectivity, and perspectives that drive instability. Join us for international conversations addressing key challenges and risks that undermine our efforts to build more resilient societies.

This podcast is brought to you by Capacity Building International (CBI) and sponsored by The International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS).

Today we're joined by Lucy Easthope. Lucy is a world-leading authority on recovering from disaster. She has been at the center of the most seismic events of the last few decades, advising on everything from the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami to the 7/7 bombings, the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand, the Grenfell fire, and the Covid-19 pandemic. In every catastrophe, Lucy is there to pick up the pieces and prepare for the next one. She holds governments to account, helps communities rally together, returns personal possessions to families, and holds the hands of the survivors. Prof. Easthope's new book "When the Dust Settles: Stories of Love, Loss and Hope from an Expert in Disaster" is coming out on the 31st of March 2022 and is available for pre-order.

In her moving memoir, she reveals what happens in the aftermath and explores how we pick up and rebuild with strength and perseverance. She takes us behind the police tape to scenes of destruction and chaos, introducing us to victims and their families, but also to the government briefing rooms and bunkers, where confusion and stale biscuits can reign supreme. Telling her own personal story, Lucy looks back at a life spent on the edges of disaster, from a Liverpudlian childhood steeped in the Hillsborough tragedy to the many losses and loves of her career. 

Another book by Dr. Easthope "The Recovery Myth: The Plans and Situated Realities of Post-Disaster Response" (2018) provides an innovative re-examination of the 'recovery' phase of a disaster by one of the UK's most experienced disaster management specialists. Drawing on two decades of work, the book develops an ethnography of the residents and responders in one flooded village and applies this to other cases of UK flooding, as well as to post-disaster recovery in New Zealand. The book shows how localized emergency responders find ways to collaborate with residents, and how an informal network uses nationally generated instruments differently to co-produce regeneration within a community.  

Prof. Easthope can be reached via such channels:

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This podcast is brought to you in partnership between Capacity Building International (CBI) and The International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS). You can join TIEMS today at and also sign up for the International Emergency Management newsletter by CBI.

Is there a topic you would like to hear about? Or are you a functional expert and want to be featured on our show? Reach out to us at [email protected]