Professor Lucy Easthope is the country’s leading authority on recovering from disaster.
For over two decades she has challenged others to think differently about what comes next, after tragic events. She is a passionate and thought-provoking voice in an area that few know about: emergency planning. However in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, her work has become decidedly more mainstream. Alongside advising both the Prime Minister’s Office and many other government departments and charities during the pandemic, she has found time to reflect on a life in disaster.
We talked about:
Her book, The Dust Settles Stories of Love, Loss and Hope from an Expert in Disaster
Why the UK government deviated from existing pandemic plans when Covid-19 struck
Some of the challenges she faces in her job
A couple of my favourite stories from the book: pigeons and the heartwarming ineptitude of the British government on occasion
The reaction to her book
What she’s planning for next, and the fun she promises which lies ahead in 2023. Now, she hasn’t been wrong about much so far, so fingers crossed…
I reviewed When the Dust Settles for The Critic magazine.
When the Dust Settles, with Professor Lucy Easthope