Rethinking Readiness: A Brief Guide to Twenty-First-Century Megadisasters

FEATURING JEFF SCHLEGELMILCH – Months into a global pandemic of staggering proportions we are living in what could be viewed as not just a disaster but a “mega-disaster,” one that we as a society were ill-prepared for in terms of infrastructure and economy. Disasters such as devastating earthquakes, terrorist attacks, industrial accidents, or nuclear war are so terrifying that our human psyche may be ill equipped to imagine the scale of the resulting crisis. But in order to be resilient we must prepare.

Jeffrey Schlegelmilch, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. He previously worked for the Yale New Haven Health System Center for Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response and the Boston Public Health Commission. Author of the new book Rethinking Readiness: A Brief Guide to Twenty-First-Century Megadisasters.

** This segment was originally broadcast on August 12, 2020.