Seismic Airwaves

We pose a set of questions about resilience and local government to Sarah Iannarone, who is running in the November 2020 election for Mayor of Portland. Check out the other material for this episode to hear other candidates for Portland City Council answer the same set of questions.

Technical Level: 2/5

Fear Factor: 1/5

We pose a set of questions about resilience and local government to Portland City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, whose seat is up for election November 2020. Check out the main episode to hear Mingus Mapps, who is running against Commissioner Eudaly, answer the same set of questions.

November 2020 is approaching and bringing with it important elections at many scales. With this episode we introduce candidates for local office in Portland, OR to share their views on issues of emergency management and to more generally paint a picture of how local government is involved in the process. This episode is an interview with Mingus Mapps, running for City Council. Check out Episode 19 Bonus material for more!

Technical Level: 3/5

Fear Factor: 1/5

Chad Tucker steps into the hosting seat for this episode alongside his 9-year-old son, Rowan, who came up with this episode idea: Asteroid impacts and emergency preparedness! Today, we will be talking to Victoria P. Andrews who recently retired from the Planetary Defense Coordination Office at NASA about the work they do. We also will be discussing what asteroids are, how they are different from comets, and even highlight some ways that these celestial travelers have entered into our stories and culture. We also interviewed David G. Lewis, PhD, a researcher and ethnohistorian at Oregon State University and member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde to learn more about the Willamette Meteorite, or Tomanowos, which is a meteorite that has long been held sacred by local tribes of the Pacific Northwest.

Technical Level: 3/5

Fear Factor: 1/5

A university can act as a model or microcosm of a city. What lessons can be learned from how a university manages crises on and off campus? This episode features conversations with  Dr. Mary Ferris, former Executive Director of Student Health, and Jim Caesar, Campus Emergency Manager, both of University of California Santa Barbara. They discuss the hazards faced by the university over their tenures including earthquake risk, wildfires, and an infectious disease outbreak of Meningitis B. 

Technical Level: 3/5 

Fear Factor: 2/5

Summer of 2020 is seeing “pandemics” centered in the public eye -- a coronavirus and structural racism pervading life and politics in the US. The impacts of structural dynamics such as racism, sexism, and poverty are repetitive and ongoing, while crises caused by illness and natural hazards can be more acute. Meghan O'Connor, therapist and Professor of Counseling Psychology, joins to discuss differences and similarities of trauma caused by these different impacts, and healing from both systemic and acute crises.

These crises present opportunities to question the approach of pathologizing people separate from the systems they are in. Instead of asking, what’s wrong with this person? We can ask, what’s wrong with this “normal”?

Technical Level: 3/5 

Fear Factor: 3/5

*This episode contains some swear words*

This bonus content accompanies the main interview with Mariola Sullivan of Magnum Opus Engineering. Here, Mariola provides an overview of impact historical events leading up to the building codes we have today in the US, such as the Codes of Hammurabi and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fires. 

What does an earthquake actually do to a building, and what makes it safer for those inside? Mariola Sullivan, PE, joins for this episode to answer these questions from a civil engineering perspective: lateral forces and joints! Mariola takes us behind the codebooks to trace regulations used to control development and mitigate hazards in Portland from 1851 through the 1970s to today.

The COVID-19 pandemic is leaving few aspects of society untouched. Because seismic safety standards are lower for residential buildings than for commercial buildings, people spending more time at home could mean higher risk of injury when an earthquake hits. Mariola discusses these risks and how we got here.

Technical Level: 5/5

Fear Factor: 2/5

Làm thế nào để đối phó với đại dịch COVID-19 ở Việt Nam so với Mỹ? Bryan Nguyen, một nhà nghiên cứu sinh viên Fulbright, đã đến Việt Nam vào đầu tháng 1 năm 2020 khi đại dịch đang ở giai đoạn đầu. Cuối cùng, anh đã chọn ở lại Đà Nẵng khi Bộ Ngoại giao Hoa Kỳ đưa ra cảnh báo du lịch của mình lên Giai đoạn 4, yêu cầu người Mỹ di tản khỏi nước sở tại của họ và trở về nhà.

Anh nói chuyện với hai cư dân trẻ Đà Nẵng, Thiện Minh Hoang và Xuân Hà Vu Nguyen - một sinh viên tốt nghiệp ngành nghiên cứu môi trường và một nhà họa sĩ kiêm quản lý một doanh nghiệp nhỏ, về phản ứng của họ và quan điểm của họ về cuộc chiến COVID-19 tại Việt Nam. Điều này dẫn đến việc nói chuyện về đại dịch COVID-19 đã ảnh hưởng đến cuộc sống của họ như thế nào về mặt học tập và kinh doanh. Ngoài ra, họ trò chuyện về những nỗ lực của cộng đồng Việt Nam đối với COVID-19 so với phần còn lại của thế giới và cách Việt Nam được công nhận như là một câu chuyện thành công trong cuộc chiến chống lại đại dịch toàn cầu đang phát triển này.

How is the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam compared to America? Bryan Nguyen, a Fulbright student researcher, arrived in Vietnam at the beginning of January 2020 when the pandemic was in its early stages. He eventually chose to stay in Da Nang as the U.S. State Department raised its travel alert to Stage 4, ordering Americans to evacuate their host countries and return home.

He spoke to two young Da Nang residents, Thiện Minh Hoang and Xuân Ha Vu Nguyen, a graduate student in environmental studies and an artist managing a small business, about their reaction and views of the COVID-19 fight in Vietnam. They talk further about how the pandemic has impacted their lives in terms of their studies and business. In addition, they chat about Vietnam’s community efforts to COVID-19 compared to the rest of the world, and how Vietnam has been recognized as a success story in their battle against this ever-evolving global pandemic.

Technical Level: 1/5

Fear Factor: 2/5

Liz Reardon “trains the trainer” for Mental Health First Aid, promoting peer-to-peer mental health support as a path of community resiliency. Liz joins this episode to talk about how to support each other in a time of isolation, pandemic social distancing, and mass trauma.

Technical Level: 2/5 

Fear Factor: 3/5

Victor Tran guest hosts this episode. The full interviews with Huang Xiang Yan and Maggie Lee are available as the episode Bonus in Mandarin Chinese. They talk about the experiences with the pandemic in Xiamen and Harbin, China, and how urban form has played a role in pandemic response. Victor summarizes the highlights of his interviews in English for this summary.

Technical Level: 1/5

Fear Factor: 1/5

Seismic Airwaves 是波特兰新建立的一个博客研究我们世界的灾难。今天，我是你们的主持人。我的名字是陈威舵，我的专业是城市规划。今天我请我的姨妈和我的中文老师来跟我们说说她们对冠状病毒的经验观察。

Technical Level: 2/5

Fear Factor: 1/5

Wade in the Water is a spoken word piece about Hurricane Katrina written and performed by Walidah Imarisha. It is part of her book of poetry Scars/Stars. This is released in advance of Episode 10 of Seismic Airwaves, which will be a conversation with Walidah about narratives of disaster and imagining the impossible as a tool to fight oppression.

Vivek Shandas works on visioning urban futures, social/environmental justice, and climate resilience. He joins the podcast to talk about increased high heat days due to climate change and impacts on health and community dynamics.

As the leading cause of death by natural disaster, heat is of especially high concern this Summer. With people isolated at home to limit exposure to coronavirus, normal measures to stay cool are less accessible.

Technical Level: 3/5

Fear Factor: 1/5

In collaboration with the Young Professionals in Transportation, Tom Mills from TriMet, Portland’s transportation agency, provides a window into questions public transit providers are dealing with right now: How to balance providing service in the present with the need to fund future service? Which routes should be modified, and how? Tom discusses how TriMet has gone about reducing bus service while upholding the mission of the public transit agency. He explains how TriMet’s Equity Index has been used in this process and provides insight into other adjustments in staffing, cleaning, and planning.

Technical level: 4/5

Fear Factor: 0/5

This is Part II of Sabina’s interview with Dr. Yu Xiao. Dr. Xiao gives an overview of how different professions such as urban planners and engineers are involved in disaster preparedness and recovery. She studies how businesses are affected by economic recovery and resilience efforts, both individually and regionally, after disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina, Ike and Sandy. The most important driving force in disaster preparedness and/or recovery efforts is not the plan; it’s the people.

Technical Level: 3/5

Fear Factor: 1/5

Why should saving lives always be the top priority? Sabina interviews Dr. Yu Xiao, an Urban Studies and Planning professor, about how businesses are affected by disasters. There are parallels with what’s currently happening during the COVID-19 pandemic and the different challenges small and large businesses face.

Technical Level: 3/5

Fear Factor: 1/5

Take a listen to this summary of Sabina’s conversation with Angie about the 2017 earthquake. Angie lived through the 7.1 magnitude earthquake in 2017 and shares her experience and thoughts on the earthquake, the impact, and a culture of support.

Technical Level: 1/5

Fear Factor: 3/5

Sabina habla con Angie sobre el terremoto de magnitud 7.1 que sucedió en 2017. Angie vivía en la Cuidad de México y ella comparte sus experiencias y opiniones sobre el sismo, los impactos, y una cultura de solidaridad.

Nivel técnico: 1/5

Nivel de asusto: 3/5

The coronavirus pandemic is forcing us to confront gaps in health care systems. Jan Koegler with the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department shares how her agency addresses emergency management.

Technical Level: 4/5

Fear Factor: 2/5

Leslie Rok lived close to the epicenter of the 1994 Northridge earthquake in California. Hear her story experiencing the moment magnitude 6.7 earthquake, and reflections 26 years later.

Technical Level: 1/5

Fear Factor: 4/5

Da’Von Wilson-Angel is the guest of this episode to answer the question of this episode: What are the Portland Neighborhood Emergency Teams? Da’Von describes why communities connections are helpful during a disaster, and what to expect in after Portland sees a major earthquake. Da’Von is the Neighborhood Emergency Team Program Specialist at the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management.

Technical Level: 2/5

Fear Factor: 1/5

Sabina talks to Yumei Wang, a resilience engineer with the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Resources. Yumei provides a general overview of the Cascadia Subduction Zone and what to expect from a major earthquake, focused on Portland and the Oregon coast.

Technical Level: 3/5

Fear Factor: 3/5

Ignorance may be blissful, but it won't help us prepare! Join Seismic Airwaves, based in Portland, Oregon, to learn from earthquake experts and survivors.

Ignorance may be blissful, but it won't help us prepare! Join Seismic Airwaves, based in Portland, Oregon, to learn from earthquake experts and survivors.