Imagine trying to prepare yourself for critical or even existential threats to your life or livelihood. We’re not talking about minor inconveniences, but life-altering events. What risks would you consider? How would you prepare for it? If that seems overwhelming, imagine trying to prepare for disasters that can strike cities.
In this interview, we explore disaster preparedness and management with Bonnie Lewin, a seasoned emergency management professional. Disaster management is a new but increasingly relevant field of study. Drawing from her three decades of experience, Bonnie looks at how Calgary’s Emergency Management Agency is attempting to assess the disaster risks facing Calgary and proactively plan for all hazards.
In Human Learning Ecology, we’re interested in not just how individuals learn and adapt but also how organizations learn and adapt. CEMA is example of an organization that has no choice but to learn. Just in the last decade, Calgary has had to respond to several major emergencies. With the advent of climate change, the expectation is that for the frequency of events to increase. Join host Chris Hsiung and Bonnie Lewin in the interview below.
A lesson learned is only a lesson if you implement it. After every event, we revise our plans, retrain, and work to do better next time. – Bonnie Lewin
The Interview
Episode Outline
- How CEMA identifies potential hazards, prepares mitigation strategies, and collaborates with agencies worldwide to adopt best practices.
- The four phases of disaster management: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.
- Using simulations to work out communication lines between telecommunications, utility providers, and other essential services before disaster strikes.
- What makes some individuals or communities more resilient than others.
- Developing psychological and practical resilience.
- What you can do now to prepare for an large-scale emergency.
Guest Recommendations
Green Social Work: From Environmental Crisis to Environmental Justice by Lena Dominelli
Building Resilience: Social Capital in Post-Disaster Recovery by Daniel Aldrich
Psychological Capacity Building in Response to Disasters by Joshua Miller
Credits
- Guest: Bonnie Lewin
- Producer: Chris Hsiung
- Associate Producer: Dana Penrice
- Audio Mix: Nathanael Wilsher
- Human Venture Institute (humanventure.com) 2024
Email your comments, questions and ideas to podcast@humanventure.com or Ask Me Anything on http://humanventure.supercast.com/
Follow Us
Get notified when we have new interviews, articles, or resources exploring human learning across a diversity of disciplines. Sign up for our newsletter. You can also explore our back catalog of interviews here.