160: Disasters Aren’t Natural: Managing Catastrophes + The Climate Crisis | Dr. Samantha Montano

We’re joined by our favorite disasterologist, Dr. Samantha Montano! We get into everything you’ve ever wanted to know about living with stronger hurricanes, tornados, heatwaves… and just how we can protect our communities.

We speak today about the event that first encouraged her to get involved in the space – recovery in New Orleans immediately following Hurricane Katrina and the Levee Failure. Samantha educates of the phases of Disaster Management (and what can go right or wrong in each one!), and gaps in our current legal and political systems when it comes to actively preparing for and mitigating events that are often incorrectly referred to as ‘natural disasters.’ We also dig deeper into the mismanagement of the covid catastrophe response.

Dr. Montano is an assistant professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. She is the author of Disasterology: Dispatches from The Frontlines of The Climate Crisis published by Park Row. She earned her B.S. in Psychology from Loyola University New Orleans and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Emergency Management from North Dakota State University.

* Ep 156: What To Know About Compound Extreme Events (11 mins)* Articles on mentioned New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward home rebuilding; here (NBC) and here (Bloomberg).

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