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    History

    Disaster Area

    A podcast about disasters throughout history – what caused them, how people survived, and how we’ve responded to keep those disasters from happening again.

    Advertise
    • Apple Podcasts
    • Google Play
    • Spotify
    Latest Episodes:
    Episode 271: The Sampoong department store collapse Sep 24, 2026
    Show notes

    It might have felt like just a bad day at work - cracks in the walls, the merchandise shaking on the shelves, the air conditioning needing to be turned off. But the Sampoong department store wasn't just falling apart metaphorically. It was quite literally taking all day to fail.

    Videos:

    • Seconds From Disaster: Superstore Collapse
    • Blueprint for Disaster: Sampoong Collapse

    Articles and books:

    • Collapse: When Buildings Fall Down by Phillip Wearne
    • 30th Anniversary Memorial for Sampoong Department Store Disaster: "Longing Deepens with Time"
    • The Sampoong Department Store Memorial page on FindAGrave
    Episode 270: The Nika riots Sep 16, 2026
    Show notes

    In 6th century Constantinople, Emperor Justinian would lead the Byzantine empire into conquering other lands, constructing impressive architecture, and instituting a new legal code that still influences nations today. But before a lot of that was done, Justinian faced the wrath of his subjects, with their rage coming to a head at one of the unlikeliest of places - a chariot race.

    Videos:

    • Yale Courses: The Reign of Justinian

    Articles and books:

    • Nika Riots: A Week of Chaos that Shook Byzantine Constantinople
    • Nika Riots: History, Causes and Aftermath
    • Blue versus Green: Rocking the Byzantine Empire
    • CHARIOT-RACING HOOLIGANISM? THE NIKA RIOTS OF CONSTANTINOPLE
    • Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint, by Peter Sarris
    Episode 269: The 1972 Black Hills flood Sep 02, 2026
    Show notes

    We all know what a good strong summer thunderstorm looks like, and we know just how much rain one of them can douse us in. But on a warm Friday night in 1972, the eastern foothills of the Black Hills -- and in particular the town of Rapid City, South Dakota -- were struck by storms which broke dams, overflowed creek beds, and killed hundreds.

    Videos:

    • Disasters of the Century: Rapid City Flood
    • Photasma Travel: Rapid City Flood 1972
    • Dakota Life: Remembering the 1972 Rapid City Flood
    • Surviving the '72 Flood
    • The Black Hills Flood: 50 Years Later
    • 1972 Flood Special

    Articles and books:

    • Images of America: The 1972 Black Hills flood, by Corey Christianson
    • US Geological Survey: The 1972 Black Hills-Rapid City flood
    • Weather.gov: The Black Hills flood of 1972
    • Rapid City Library: The Rapid City Flood of 1972
    • Obituary: Don Barnett
    Episode 268: Pacific Southwest Flight 182 Aug 26, 2026
    Show notes

    It was a beautiful Monday morning in San Diego on September 25, 1978 - sunny and hot with not a cloud in the sky. There was no reason whatsoever to think the day would be ruined by anything, but especially not by two planes colliding over a horrified suburb.

    Videos:

    • Air Crash Investigation: Blind Spot
    • Allec Joshua Ibay: Blind Spot - 1978 San Diego Mid-Air Collision

    Articles and books:

    • NTSB report on the collision between Flight 182 and the Cessna
    • San Diego Magazine: This is It!
    • Memorializing the 45th Anniversary of the Crash of PSA Flight 182 at the San Diego Air & Space Museum
    • Memories That Will Never Go Away" The Crash of Flight 182 and Its Aftermath
    Episode 267: The sinking of the Doña Paz Aug 19, 2026
    Show notes

    When we think of deadly peacetime maritime disasters, Titanic is the first ship to come to mind. But there is a far deadlier disaster which holds the record for the worst in terms of loss of life ... when a loaded oil tanker and a packed ferry collided in the Philippines one moonless night just before Christmas in 1987.

    Videos:

    • Asia's Titanic

    Articles and books:

    • Doña Paz victims waiting for justice 25 years after
    • Catbalogan folk cry foul over demolition of Doña Paz memorial
    • The Philippines Off Mindoro, a Night to Remember
    • It's Gloom And Glitter For Manila
    • NYT: 1,500 ARE FEARED LOST AS 2 SHIPS COLLIDE AND SINK NEAR PHILIPPINES
    • Caltex v. Sulpucio
    • Paul Allen's research vessel surveys wreckage of 'Asia's Titanic' — 1987 ferry sinking killed 4,300
    • Alchetron: MV Dona Paz
    The Mystery of the Missing Podcast Host Aug 07, 2026
    Show notes

    Or where have I been the past three months?

    (Alas, it's not as interesting as the title makes it sound.)

    Episode 266: The Club Cinq-Sept fire May 15, 2026
    Show notes

    It should have just been a regular Saturday night dancing to rock music and having a good time at the relatively new dance hall outside of Saint-Laurent, France. But in the early morning hours of November 1st, 1970, what was likely one dropped match or cigarette turned the Club Cinq-Sept into an oven.

    Videos:

    • Pierre Montillo interview

    • AP News clips of the fire

    Articles and books:

    • The worst thing is the sound of silence": 50 years after the "5-7" tragedy, the memory and the grief remain intact.

    • Youth to Burn: Guy Debord on the fire at Saint-Laurent-du-Pont

    • Virtual Globetrotting: Diagram of the layout of the Club Cinq-Sept

    • France: An Unusual Silence

    • 1970: Nightclub inferno 'wipes out generation'

    Episode 265: The Cutter incident - part three May 08, 2026
    Show notes

    It would start with a headache, a fever, maybe a funny tummy. But soon enough your knee would give out, or your arm would hang limp, or you would struggle to breathe. You'd be taken to the hospital, where you'd get your diagnosis - polio. If you survived, you ran the risk of doing so with paralyzed limbs, struggling to walk on bulky leg braces. Your parents would be terrified they might lose you, and so everybody wanted the one thing that could stop all of this - a vaccine.

    Videos:

    • New England Journal of Medicine: The Cutter Incident, 50 Years Later

    • American Experience: The Polio Crusade

    • The Iron Lung and Polio by M.Rockoff | OPENPediatrics

    Articles and books:

    • Polio: An American Story, by David M. Oshinsky

    • The Cutter Incident, by Dr. Paul Offit

    • NEJM: The Cutter Incident

    Episode 264: The Cutter incident - Part Two May 01, 2026
    Show notes

    It would start with a headache, a fever, maybe a funny tummy. But soon enough your knee would give out, or your arm would hang limp, or you would struggle to breathe. You'd be taken to the hospital, where you'd get your diagnosis - polio. If you survived, you ran the risk of doing so with paralyzed limbs, struggling to walk on bulky leg braces. Your parents would be terrified they might lose you, and so everybody wanted the one thing that could stop all of this - a vaccine.

    Videos:

    • New England Journal of Medicine: The Cutter Incident, 50 Years Later

    • American Experience: The Polio Crusade

    • The Iron Lung and Polio by M.Rockoff | OPENPediatrics

    Articles and books:

    • Polio: An American Story, by David M. Oshinsky

    • The Cutter Incident, by Dr. Paul Offit

    • NEJM: The Cutter Incident

    RERELEASE: Episode 254: The Cutter incident - Part One Feb 27, 2026
    Show notes

    NOTE: This was released in May of 2025, but due to life being what it is, I didn't get to finish the final two parts of the episode. So I am rereleasing this episode this week, and the next two weeks I will release the following two episodes. I have now officially backed myself in a corner and I simply MUST finish the episodes now.

    It would start with a headache, a fever, maybe a funny tummy. But soon enough your knee would give out, or your arm would hang limp, or you would struggle to breathe. You'd be taken to the hospital, where you'd get your diagnosis - polio. If you survived, you ran the risk of doing so with paralyzed limbs, struggling to walk on bulky leg braces. Your parents would be terrified they might lose you, and so everybody wanted the one thing that could stop all of this - a vaccine.

    Videos:

    • New England Journal of Medicine: The Cutter Incident, 50 Years Later

    • American Experience: The Polio Crusade

    • The Iron Lung and Polio by M.Rockoff | OPENPediatrics

    Articles and books:

    • Polio: An American Story, by David M. Oshinsky

    • The Cutter Incident, by Dr. Paul Offit

    • NEJM: The Cutter Incident

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