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Disaster Area

Disaster Area

By: Jennifer Matarese
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A podcast about disasters throughout history - what caused them, how people survived, and how we've responded to keep those disasters from happening again. Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • Episode 254: The Cutter incident - Part One
    May 31 2025

    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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    1 hr and 12 mins
  • Episode 253: The 1692 Port Royal earthquake
    May 1 2025

    In a bustling city of pirates and wickedness, one might think things couldn't get any more dangerous. But in the Jamaican city of Port Royal in 1692, that thought would be tested, and tested hard.

    Videos:

    • History of Port Royal (Underwater Cities)

    Articles and books:

    • Apocalypse 1692: Empire, Slavery, and the Great Port Royal Earthquake, by Ben Hughes

    • Historic Earthquakes: Jamaica, 1692 June 07 UTC

    • Jamaica Port Royal

    If you'd like to donate to the GFM for my car, you can find that here:

    https://gofund.me/a0585132

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 19 mins
  • Stoned History: Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571
    Mar 31 2025

    To raise money for car repairs, Jennifer answers the question you've all been wondering - how well can she talk about a disaster while ... let's say "not sober."

    Please help Jennifer fix her car! It takes our esteemed cohost Professor on rides to go see cows and he therefore cannot live without it. Links below:

    GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/59bec8ad

    Paypal: disasterarea@mail.com

    Cashapp: $disasterareapod

    Venmo: @disasterareapodcast

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 19 mins

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.