A podcast. New episode every week, free everywhere.
True stories of catastrophe, and what we learned.
History's worst disasters, broken down the way an investigator would: what went wrong, who was accountable, and what changed because of it.
New episodes weekly.
- New Episodes Weekly!
- Free on every platform
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Disaster Debrief is free on every major platform. Follow the show and new episodes land automatically.
How we debrief a disaster
Every episode follows the same structure, because that's how you actually learn from a catastrophe rather than just being horrified by it.
Timeline
Minute by minute, from the first warning sign to the moment it was over. No skipping ahead.
What Went Wrong
The chain of failures, technical, human and organisational, and where it could have been broken.
Accountability
Who knew, who decided, and what the inquiries concluded. We stick to the record.
What Changed
The laws, standards and habits that exist because of this disaster. Sometimes nothing changed. We say that too.
Why I make this show
I started Disaster Debrief because most coverage of disasters stops at the tragedy. The interesting part, the part that actually saves lives, is what the investigators found afterwards, and that almost never gets told properly. Every episode is built from official inquiry reports, court records and first-hand accounts. No dramatisation, no speculation dressed up as fact.
- Weekly episodes
- Primary sources only
- No sensationalism
One email when a new episode drops
No digests, no marketing. Just a short note with the new episode, the key sources, and anything I couldn't fit in.
Unsubscribe any time.
The archive
Every episode, filtered by disaster type. Swipe to browse or search below.
2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake And Tsunami
Have a disaster you want covered?
Suggestions drive a lot of the schedule. If there's an event you think deserves a proper debrief, famous or forgotten, tell me about it.
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