Fire, tsunami, pandemic: how to ensure societies learn lessons from disaster

When catastrophes like a pandemic strike, how do we make sure societies learn – and implement – lessons from disaster? We talk to three researchers coming at this question in different ways.

First, a story from northern Australia about how Indigenous knowledge that can help to prevent natural disasters has been with us for thousands of years. We speak to Kamaljit Sangha, senior ecological economist at the Darwin Centre for Bushfire Research at Charles Darwin University in northern Australia.

Second, what happens when a country with a long history of preparing for disasters, faces something it didn't predict. With Elizabeth Maly, associate professor of international research at the Institute of Disaster Science at Japan's Tohoku University.

And third, use the recovery from a disaster like the pandemic as a catalyst for change. We speak to Ian Goldin, professor of globalisation and development at the University of Oxford in the UK.

And Julius Maina, East Africa editor at The Conversation in Nairobi, recommends some analysis of this week's crucial election in Ethiopia.

The Conversation Weekly is produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. You can find us on Twitter @TC_Audio, on Instagram at theconversationdotcom or via email on [email protected]. You can also sign up to The Conversation’s free daily email here. Full credits for this article available here.

The stories in this episode are tied to two series on The Conversation. Resilient recovery looks at how to recover from the pandemic in a way that makes societies more resilient and able to deal with future challenges. It’s supported by a grant from PreventionWeb, a platform from the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. And a second series called Disaster and Resilience focused on the nexus between disaster, disadvantage and resilience, supported by a grant form the Paul Ramsay foundation. 

Further reading:

• Indigenous expertise is reducing bushfires in northern Australia. It’s time to consider similar approaches for other disasters, by Kamaljit K Sangha, Charles Darwin University; Andrew Edwards, Charles Darwin University, and Willie Rioli Sr, Indigenous Knowledge
• Tsunamis, earthquakes, nuclear meltdowns and COVID-19 – what Japan has and hasn’t learned from centuries of disaster, by Elizabeth Maly, Tohoku University
• COVID-19 has shown that following the same road will lead the world over a precipice, by Ian Goldin, University of Oxford
• Recovery: a series from The Anthill podcast. Part 1: How Europe recovered from the Black Death, featuring Adrian Bell, University of Reading, Eleanor Russell, University of Cambridge and Mark Bailey, University of East Anglia
• More than a decade after the Black Saturday fires, it’s time we got serious about long-term disaster recovery planning
• Lisa Gibbs, The University of Melbourne
• Learning from COVID: how to improve future supplies of medical equipment and vaccines, by Liz Breen, University of Bradford
• What we can learn about risk from the COVID experience, by Geoff Mulgan, UCL