In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King opens with a question most emergency managers haven't been asked: what if someone is actively working to make your disaster worse? Not by intensifying the physical impact, but by flooding the information space with narratives designed to make the response fail.

What it reveals: disaster disinformation is no longer a communications problem. It's a gray zone weapon, and adversarial actors are pulling the trigger.

From Hurricane Helene's false FEMA narratives that generated 160 million views and physically stopped responders from doing their jobs, to Valencia's floods where Spain's National Security Report traced 112 disinformation narratives to pro-Kremlin channels, to the LA wildfires and Texas floods where conspiracy theories spurred death threats against private firms. The playbook repeats: exploit the information vacuum, amplify institutional distrust, turn natural catastrophe into political crisis. Emergency managers are fighting an information warfare campaign with press releases and rumor response pages. The tools are wrong because the threat model is wrong.

This episode isn't a call for better fact-checking. It's a call to recognize that civilian crisis management sits at the intersection of public safety, national security, and digital governance, and the profession's current architecture is built for the wrong threat.

Tune in to hear why your next disaster plan needs an information warfare chapter written before the storm makes landfall.

Show Highlights

[00:56] When misinformation stops being accidental and starts being a weapon

[02:01] Hurricane Helene: 160 million views and FEMA forced to pause outreach

[03:14] Valencia floods: 112 false narratives and the Kremlin connection

[04:06] LA wildfires and Texas floods: the same playbook, different disasters

[04:51] Why disasters create conditions gray zone actors can only dream of manufacturing

[06:03] The EU sees it at the strategic level. The operational level doesn't. That's the gap.

[06:58] Why fact-checking fails when the goal is to discredit the fact-checkers

[08:41] Three shifts: threat modeling, pre-positioned trust, and cross-sector coordination

[09:58] Sweden's total defense model and what emergency management has historically resisted

[10:59] The uncomfortable question for every crisis management leader

Go Deeper: Crisis Lab Toolkits

Listening is one thing. Applying it is another. Every Crisis Lab article comes with a companion toolkit: frameworks, checklists, and operational tools built for practitioners who need to act, not just stay informed.

Free for all Crisis Lab subscribers.

👉 news.crisislab.io/toolkits

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King opens with a scenario every emergency manager recognizes: an evacuation order goes out, every protocol is followed, every system is activated, and people don't move.

What it reveals: trust is invisible infrastructure, and it fails the same way physical systems do.

From Winter Storm URI in Texas to the Lahaina wildfire in Hawaii to Berlin's longest blackout since 1945, the pattern repeats. Policy trades resilience for efficiency, warnings go unheeded, systems fail, and public confidence collapses at every level of government. The gap between what institutions promise and what communities receive has become a structural vulnerability.

This episode isn't a call for better messaging. It's a call to treat trust like what it is: critical infrastructure that requires assessment, maintenance, and investment. Tune in to hear why the next evacuation order's success or failure is being determined right now.

Show Highlights

[00:00] The evacuation order nobody followed

[01:00] Why warnings fail when trust has already been spent

[02:00] Trust as infrastructure: the social network behind every physical system

[03:00] Winter Storm URI and the 2011 warnings Texas ignored

[04:00] Berlin's blackout: efficiency purchased with redundancy

[05:00] Spain's train collision and the pattern of unheard warnings

[05:30] Hawaii's false missile alert and the Lahaina sirens that stayed silent

[06:30] The Spain-Portugal cascading power failure

[07:00] FEMA's workforce: 29,000 to 23,000 and falling

[07:30] The complexity-response gap: crises at system speed, institutions at human speed

[08:30] Four steps municipal leaders can take now

[09:00] Mapping your trust landscape before the next crisis

[09:30] Closing the warning-to-action gap through policy, not heroics

[10:00] Ukraine's model: honest capacity communication under compounding stress

[11:00] Trust is infrastructure. Start treating it accordingly.

Go Deeper: Crisis Lab Toolkits

Listening is one thing. Applying it is another. Every Crisis Lab article comes with a companion toolkit: frameworks, checklists, and operational tools built for practitioners who need to act, not just stay informed.

Free for all Crisis Lab subscribers.

👉 news.crisislab.io/toolkits

In the Season 5 premiere, host Kyle King asks one question: what should we have been paying attention to? A blackout in Berlin, a fatal train collision in Spain, and the systematic destruction of Ukraine's power grid all point to the same pattern. The signal wasn't in the incidents. It was in the structural failures that preceded them.

After a year of diagnosing what's broken, Kyle argues 2026 has to be about discernment. The profession isn't short on information. It's drowning in it. This episode separates signal from noise: single points of failure, unheard warnings, and survival duration metrics are signal. Threat briefings without operational implications and recycled frameworks are noise dressed as vigilance.

This isn't a call for more awareness. It's a call for the discipline to focus on what counts.

Show Highlights

[00:00] Three countries, three causes, one question

[01:00] Berlin's blackout: arson at a single junction point

[01:30] Spain's train collision: warnings raised months before

[02:00] Ukraine's grid at a third of peacetime capacity

[03:30] What Crisis Lab diagnosed in 2025

[04:45] The structural pattern behind all three incidents

[07:00] From diagnosis to discernment: what 2026 demands

[07:45] Finding single points of failure before adversaries do

[08:15] Signal vs. noise: what actually changes Monday morning?

[09:15] Survival duration: the metric that matters most

[10:00] Building discernment through deliberate community

[10:45] Why Crisis Lab built The Forum

Go Deeper: Crisis Lab Toolkits

Listening is one thing. Applying it is another. Every Crisis Lab article comes with a companion toolkit: frameworks, checklists, and operational tools built for practitioners who need to act, not just stay informed.

Free for all Crisis Lab subscribers.

👉 news.crisislab.io/toolkits

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King sits down with Nathan Gross, a public health and emergency management expert who has led major crisis responses at the CDC—including the Marburg Virus Disease task force and large-scale pandemic vaccination efforts.

With deep expertise in climate resilience, emergency preparedness, and crisis management, Nathan shares insights on how emergency management must evolve to address the growing impact of climate change and public health threats.

Show Highlights

[02:31] Climate change and emergency management
[03:26] Social determinants of health and their impact on crisis response
[06:37] Community resilience and the rise of climate refugees
[09:35] Public health and climate resilience strategies
[12:48] The role of emergency managers in shaping policy
[15:20] How climate change is reshaping risk assessments and preparedness
[18:05] Lessons learned from past climate-related disasters
[21:32] Successful implementations of climate resilience strategies

Connect with Nathan Gross
- Linkedin

Special Episode: Disaster Tough Podcast – A 2022 Retrospective for Emergency Management Worldwide - Interview with Kyle King by John Scardena

This month we are sharing with you an episode of John Scardena's Disaster Tough Podcast with Kyle King as a guest.

In this episode, we take a look back at the various disasters that have happened in 2022, both in the US and abroad. From the war in Ukraine, to the recent damage done by Hurricane Ian, Kyle gives his take on what citizens and Emergency Management experts can learn from the events of this year, and what the focus of both sides should be heading into 2023.

Check out Disaster Tough Podcast and Disaster Tough Podcast Youtube Channel

Is there a topic you would like to hear about? Or are you a functional expert and want to be featured on our show? Reach out to us at info@capacitybuildingint.com and let us know!

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King sits down with emergency preparedness leader Toni Hauser to examine how the future of emergency management is being shaped by shifting influence, community leadership, and professional development. With debates underway about decentralizing FEMA, the discussion highlights why local voices matter and how change in the field often starts from the ground up.

Drawing from her role as co-vice chair of the IAEM 2025 Conference Committee and her experience in public health preparedness, Toni explains how the upcoming IAEM Annual Conference in Louisville is designed as more than a traditional event. She shares how planning adapts to constant change, why flexibility is essential, and how the conference builds resilience through networking, training, and immersive experiences.

Tune in to hear how emergency management professionals can navigate policy shifts, balance a wide range of responsibilities, and find new ways to lead in an environment where adaptability is the key to influence.

Show Highlights

[02:55] Overview of the IAEM 2025 Annual Conference in Louisville

[03:16] Debate on FEMA decentralization and shifting influence

[06:08] Planning, logistics, and adapting to change

[09:20] Gathering feedback and creating meaningful experiences

[11:16 ] Inside the IAEM Expo and networking opportunities

[14:02] Trends in conference submissions and session topics

[15:51] The role of virtual conferences and accessibility

[18:50] Speaker liaison roles and supporting presenters

[20:40] Challenges of breadth and context switching in emergency management

[24:18] Advice for first-time attendees and volunteer opportunities

[26:15] Registration details and final thoughts

Connect with Toni Hauser
- LinkedIn

Check out the IAEM 2025 Annual Conference in Louisville, November 14–20, for the latest trends, tools, and networking opportunities in emergency management: https://www.iaem.org/Events/Event-Info/sessionaltcd/AC25

Welcome to the second season of the Crisis. Conflict. Emergency Management Podcast brought to you by Capacity Building International (CBI), where we discuss all aspects of international crisis management and the nexus between crisis, conflict, and emergency management as well as impacts on communities.

In this episode, let's talk about disaster management and risk reduction.

From tsunamis and hurricanes to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the understanding of disaster management and risk reduction has changed. It is no longer just about hazards. International organizations are now taking into account all other aspects of the risk formula to detect early signs of the next health crisis or natural catastrophe to hit the world.

In this conversation with host Kyle King, former Director of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Mr. Ricardo Mena dives deeper into the major changes in disaster risk reduction, the current state of how international organizations fund risk mitigation, where the responsibility of implementing an integrated DRR ultimately falls on, the important tools that can influence nations to mitigate risk, and the role of local emergency managers in preventing what could go wrong in the future.

Show Highlights

[01:18] What has changed in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) over the last few years and where it is going

[06:34] Ricardo explains this is how society should start seeing hazards moving forward

[07:10] The topics Ricardo talked about when he started in DRR vs. the topics he talks about now, 29 years after

[13:40] The five catalysts Ricardo thinks fueled change in the way international organizations approach DRR

[19:26] How investments and funds are allocated in the implementation of DRR programs today

[23:39] Why incorporating climate change scenarios into future planning prevents the creation of new risks

[25:06] Where the responsibility to integrate all aspects of DRR ultimately falls on

[30:37] What Ricardo believes to be the most important tool to influence nations in mitigating risk

[36:08] What could go wrong in DRR today and the issues Ricardo thinks society should keep an eye on

Connect with Ricardo on LinkedIn

Is there a topic you would like to hear about? Or are you a functional expert and want to be featured on our show? We'd love to connect with you! Reach out to us anytime at info@capacitybuildingint.com

Water Security and Conflict with Ashok Swain

Crisis. Conflict. Emergency Management Podcast

Global perspectives and conversations about international crisis, preparedness, and how to build more resilient societies in a challenging and ever-changing world. As the world moves to reduce risk to global threats, we need to recognize the vulnerabilities, connectivity, and perspectives that drive instability. Join us for international conversations addressing key challenges and risks that undermine our efforts to build more resilient societies.

This podcast is brought to you by Capacity Building International (CBI) and sponsored by The International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS).

In this episode of Crisis, Conflict, and Emergency Management we are going to discuss water security, and the impact on our societies, which may lead to conflict or crisis. To help us navigate this complicated issue, we are joined by Dr. Ashok Swain. Dr. Swain is a Professor of Peace and Conflict Research, UNESCO Chair of International Water Cooperation, and also the Director of Research School for International Water Cooperation at Uppsala University, Sweden. Swain received his Ph.D. from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in 1991, and since then he has been teaching at the Uppsala University. He has been a Mac Arthur Visiting Fellow at the University of Chicago, visiting professor/fellow at UN Research Institute for Social Development, Geneva; University Witwatersrand, South Africa, University of Science, Malaysia, University of British Columbia, University of Maryland, Stanford University, McGill University, Tufts University and University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. He has worked as a consultant on development issues for several UN agencies, OSCE, NATO, EU, IISS, various government agencies of Sweden, the Netherland, the UK, and Singapore. Professor Swain published extensively on new security challenges, international water-sharing issues, and democratic development.

Ashok Swain can be reached via such channels:

LinkedIn

Twitter

This podcast is brought to you in partnership between Capacity Building International (CBI) and The International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS). You can join TIEMS today and also sign up for the International Emergency Management newsletter by CBI.

Is there a topic you would like to hear about? Or are you a functional expert and want to be featured on our show? Reach out to us at info@capacitybuildingint.com and let us know!