大象传媒

The modern world is full of risks, from natural hazards such as flooding to the existential threat of nuclear war, artificial intelligence and climate change.

With the scientific and technological progress of the past few centuries, we鈥檝e created new hazards that threaten our very survival and in this series, emergency planner and disaster recovery expert Lucy Easthope explores the history of risk to find out how it鈥檚 understood, perceived and managed, and to ask how we can become more resilient as individuals, as a society and as a planet.

The North Sea Flood of 1953 - the combination of a high spring tide and a storm surge which swept across the East Coast killing 307 people in England - was described as the worst natural disaster in Britain of the 20th century.

It was also the birth of modern risk management as the state began to recognise its increased responsibility - and accountability - in preventing future disasters.
From cost-benefit analysis and risk assessments to the insurance industry, Lucy Easthope finds out how we protect ourselves from these hazards, and whether there is ever such a thing as a 鈥榥atural鈥� disaster or if they are always the result of political choices.

Presenter: Lucy Easthope
Producer: Patrick Bernard
Executive Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for 大象传媒 Radio 4

Lucy Easthope is the co-founder of the After Disaster Network in the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience at the University of Durham, Professor in Mass Fatalities and Pandemics at the University of Bath and the author of 鈥淲hen The Dust Settles鈥�.