Over the last three weeks, a pair of powerful earthquakes shook Nepal, resulting in the deaths of more than 8,000 people. The Dart Center spoke with journalists Russell Lewis and Amantha Perera, and clinician Patrice Keats, about the challenges of covering this tragedy, including verifying information in a time of emergency, speaking with families of missing people, and working through the personal challenges of covering trauma.
Resources for Disaster, Featured Articles
In many towns and rural areas of the U.S., emergency-scene access is controlled by fire police, who work in tandem with other first responders. Reporters and editors of the York Daily Record in York, PA have assembled a tipsheet for reporters gathering news of accidents, fires, and larger-scale disasters where fire police come into play. Much of their advice applies as well to emergency scenes patrolled by regular police or fire brigades.
The story of a flash flood that killed 20 people — eight of them children — is told in an in-depth, three-part series focusing on the experience of two families. Originally published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in November, 2010.
No country is better prepared for earthquakes than Japan. But as the death toll rises from the massive quake and damaged nuclear plants bring more peril, journalists will play a key role in how people make sense of the disaster.
Reflections from a native Queenslander, as Australia's seasonal burden becomes a full-fledged disaster. Accompanying photographs from Rob Maccoll of The Courier Mail in Queensland.