Disasters are a constant part of life on islands - but outsiders often just see the stats: storm categories, earthquake scales, eruption sizes. Behind those numbers are real people forced to live through harrowing experiences. In this episode, Matt and Emily ask: how do survivors make sense of the shock - and how do their stories help communities rebuild what was lost? 

In “Island Voices”, Darenthea Sweeney from Montserrat and Gregory Adams from the British Virgin Islands describe the lasting social effects of disasters. As a disaster management expert, Emily breaks it down for us in the 'Explainer'. Then, three academics – Adom Philogene Heron, Farah Nibbs and Gemma Sou – share how they work with communities affected by disasters to tell their own stories and push back against outside narratives. Finally, in “No Stupid Questions” Matt and Emily discuss whether anyone can ever truly prepare for a disaster on the scale faced by many small islands. 

Featuring: 

• Emily Wilkinson (host) | RESI Director and Principal Research Fellow at ODI 
• Matthew Bishop (host) | RESI Director and Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield 
• Darenthea Sweeney | Schoolteacher and Climate Justice Leader, Montserrat 
• Gregory Adams | Chief Planner, Government of the Virgin Islands 
• Adom Philogene Heron | Lecturer in Visual Anthropology, University of Bristol, UK 
• Farah Nibbs | Assistant Professor, Emergency and Disaster Health Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, United States 
• Gemma Sou | Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, Monash University, Australia 

Resources: 

• Programme page | Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative (RESI) 
• Emily’s documentary | Climate Blueprint: Dominica 
• Adom’s university webpage | Dr Adom Philogene Heron 
• Farah’s university webpage | Dr Farah Nibbs 
• Adam and Farah’s project | Surviving Storms: Caribbean Cyclone Cartography 
• Gemma’s university webpage | Dr Gemma Sou 
• Gemma’s personal webpage | www.gemmasou.com 
• RESI research on loss and damage | The price of a changing climate | Calculating loss and damage from extreme weather events | The costs of inaction | Barriers to addressing climate-related loss and damage 

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