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BackStory · September 14, 2018 · 54m
Storm Warning: A History of Extreme Weather in America
How Americans have responded to hurricanes, floods, droughts, and blizzards throughout history. The hosts trace how disaster response evolved from religious interpretation to scientific prediction to federal emergency management.
Canon
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Americans cannot control hurricanes, earthquakes, or floods. What they can control is building codes, evacuation plans, levee systems, and emergency response. The history of disaster management is the Stoic dichotomy applied to public policy.
Highlights
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Natural disasters reveal the pre-existing social fault lines they didn't create
Hurricane Katrina didn't create New Orleans's racial and economic inequality — it revealed it. Every natural disaster exposes the social structures that determine who suffers most and who recovers fastest.