After the Disaster podcast

In 2019, I was on maternity leave with my twins when the Black Summer fires started. At the time, I was used to getting my information about disaster events through situation reports and agency updates. This time, I flicked between Bluey for my three year old and ABC news to get updates. I decided to act on an idea I’d been toying with for a while for a disaster recovery podcast, and between feeds one night I frantically typed out a pitch and sent it through to the ABC, about 99% sure I’d never get a reply. I was wrong – I got a call the next morning from a very helpful producer who told me that it had a chance of getting up, but I’d have to be persistent and patient.

Fast forward nearly two years (that producer wasn’t lying) and the magnificent team at Headline Productions and ABC were able to launch the ‘After the Disaster’ podcast as a partnership between ABC, Red Cross and University of Melbourne.

The podcast has 15 episodes, and in each one of them I got to interview people with lived experience and subject matter expertise on a range of issues. The episodes are:

1.     What to Expect

2.     Helping Our Kids

3.     Navigating Insurance

4.     Should I Stay or Should I Move?

5.     Memorials and Anniversaries

6.     Good Outcomes from Bad Times

7.     When the Landscape Changes

8.     Before the Next One

9.     How to Talk to Someone After a Disaster

10.  The Disaster Ripple

11.  Why a Violent Event Might Feel Different

12.  Communities with Trauma

13.  Court Cases and Criminal and Civil Proceedings

14.  Family Violence

15.  What is Recovery?

The people I interviewed were so generous with their stories, and they all participated with the hope that the things they had learned might ease the burden for someone else in the future. If you listen to it, I hope you’re able to take something useful away that helps you.

You can listen to After the Disaster here or wherever you get your podcasts.