In this special guest episode of Getting Through It, Dr. Lucy Jones sits down with Emiliano Rodríguez Nuesch, a specialist in creative risk communication and the director of the risk communications agency Pacífico. In the wake of tropical storm Hilary in Los Angeles and reflecting on Emiliano’s hurricane preparedness work in the Caribbean, they discuss how to manage the risks we face as climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of hurricanes. They then highlight innovative approaches to effective risk communication as it relates to hurricanes. 

The devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Turkey on February 6, 2023 and its aftershocks have many people wondering if the same impacts and damage could happen in Southern California. In this episode, Dr. Jones lays out how to get from good codes to good buildings. She reminds us that buildings are only as good as the building code that was in place at the time it was constructed and the degree to which that code was enforced.

In this special guest episode of Getting Through It, Dr. Lucy Jones sits down with Keith Porter, chief engineer of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction and of the original ARkStorm scenario, to discuss the impact of the atmospheric river and subsequent flooding on the entire state of California in January 2023. They think back on what they modeled in the ARkStorm scenario and what it takes to go from where the damages are now to the worst phase as modeled in the scenario. Then, they talk through how to confront this extreme weather as an ongoing feature of weather in California. 

Whenever there is a big earthquake near the coast, people often worry about tsunamis and liquefaction. We know tsunamis happen when the shape of the sea floor changes and moves the water, but liquefaction is not quite as simple. In this episode, Dr Jones explains what liquefaction is, when it occurs, and how to know if you are at risk . 

Dr. Jones and John often discuss what it is that the listeners of this podcast can do to manage the risks you face. In this episode, they discuss what civic leaders can do to protect people with good policy. They review a new report released by the Dr. Jones Center with research from Dr. Keith Porter of the The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction and they look back on the impact of the ShakeOut Scenario with the City of Los Angeles. 

Recorded during a Southern California heatwave, this episode explores the increase in the extremes of disasters due to climate change.

For the past year and a half, the Dr. Jones Center has been working on a unique project. Tempo is an international collaboration that brings together climate scientists and engineers, social scientists, and musicians to explore the ways in which music can be used to change the emotional climate about climate change. This episode goes over how this project came about, why we need to focus on evoking specific emotions, and how those who are interested in participating in the Tempo Project can be part of the solution.

As Dr. Jones says, when you have a lot of earthquakes, you have a lot of earthquakes. This means that there are many more small earthquakes than large ones; it's a well defined distribution. Not only are there a lot of earthquakes, but scientists can tell you how many there will be by using an equation. In this episode, Dr. Jones gets nerdy and details the equation that fits this distribution to predict the data.