Research Blog
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5 min read
When Warnings Fall Short: Communication and Tsunami Evacuation
Imagine your GPS announcing, “Danger ahead,” without telling you where to turn, how far away the threat is, or whether you should stop or reroute.…
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5 min read
Before the Wave: Gaps in Tsunami Preparedness
In my previous blog post, I explored how disaster risk reduction strategies such as early warning systems, tsunami awareness, and education and outreach activities have…
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7 min read
Before the Wave Arrives: Disaster Risk Reduction and Tsunami Events
During the summer of 2023, I spent my school break as a Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Facility SPC Intern at the University of the West Indies’…
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5 min read
Hurry Up and Wait: Forest Fires and Disaster Prevention
The year I started working as an Assistant Fire Management Clerk, I was a shy 19-year-old, timidly running radio communications for the Thunder Bay District’s…
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6 min read
Classroom Connections: Linking Contemporary Youth with Historical Students’ Transnational Experiences of Disasters
On December 17th and 18th 2024, two groups of grade 10 Geography students from Colonel By High School journeyed to Carleton University to tour the…
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5 min read
The Ethics of Disaster Research
As earlier posts have noted, the seeds for the Disaster Lab research project were planted before the Covid-19 pandemic. They emerged out of an observation,…
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4 min read
“History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes.”
I was knee-deep in my continuous research on the history of disasters when the above quote by American writer Mark Twain came to mind. Coincidentally,…
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8 min read
Hurricane Hazel’s Best Dressed: Reading between the headlines in the Toronto “Evening Telegram”
On October 16, 1954, buried between the pages of the Toronto Evening Telegram, reads a seemingly out of place headline, “Beautiful Gowns Worn to Ball…
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5 min read
Gone to the Dogs: Disasters and the Pet Perspective
Pet-owning families will know the important role that animal companions play in the household. From dinner table companions anxiously awaiting fallen scraps, to bedside (or…
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4 min read
A Hurricane is Not Just a Hurricane
The impact of Hurricane Hazel can be approached from a spatial historical perspective. Spatial history focuses on the relationship between humans and place over time.…
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4 min read
Thoughts, Prayers, and Typhoons: Catholicism in the Midst of a Disaster
“To God Be the Glory.” It says at the end credits of a Filipino telenovela playing on tv at a family friend’s living room. Growing…
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5 min read
What is a Disaster?
At a recent Disaster Lab meeting, the question of “what is a disaster?” came up. We realized that despite researching how other people were thinking…
