Counter Crisis
A series by the Centre for Disaster Protection on disaster risk financing.
Episodes
12 episodes
S3 Ep 4: The Quiet Disaster
Heat doesn't behave like other disasters. It's slow, continuous, and chronically under-recorded. In parts of India, heat now lasts for up to nine months of the year.For street vendors, construction workers and informal-sector women, heat...
S3 Ep 3: Between Flood and Drought
The Gambia is one of the smallest countries in Africa, and one of the most exposed to climate change. Its capital, Banjul, sits on an island less than a metre above sea level. By the end of the century, the city could be lost altogether....
S3 Ep 2: Black Rain
In January 2022, an underwater volcano erupted off Tonga with enough force to be heard in Alaska. It triggered a tsunami, severed the undersea cable that connected the country to the world, and caught the national disaster team's own boat at se...
S3 Ep 1: Hurricane People
In October 2025, Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica as the strongest storm ever to hit the island. Forty-five people were killed, thousands were left homeless, and the town of Black River was almost completely destroyed.But Jamai...
Season 3 Trailer
The people closest to a disaster are often the furthest away from where decisions about the money to respond are made. The third season of Counter Crisis travels that distance and meets people who are working to close it.
S2 Ep 3: A brighter future for global disaster response?
Hurricane Beryl left a trail of destruction across the Caribbean – homes torn apart, power lines downed, entire communities devastated. But this time, something was different. Just eight days after landfall, a record $55.5 million i...
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S2 Ep 2: Breaking the cycle of response and recovery
In 2016, Cyclone Winston devastated Fiji – flattening villages, cutting power, and leaving hundreds of thousands in urgent need. But as the crisis unfolded, aid stalled. Bureaucracy delayed funding, costing time and lives. Nine year...
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S2 Ep 1: If we know it’s coming, why do we wait?
Wildfires, floods, drought – climate disasters are hitting harder and faster. The response is often too late, leaving millions to suffer. In fact, less than 2% of international crisis financing is arranged in advance —and an even sm...
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Counter Crisis Episode 3: Are we ready for the next pandemic?
Finance is crucial for containing the spread of the new disease while not leaving countries to raid their national budgets and accumulate unsustainable debt burdens. But we don't need just more money; we need systems that ensure money is timely...
Counter Crisis Episode 2: Can finance save climate-vulnerable countries from drowning?
In Episode II of the Centre for Disaster Protection’s podcast, Counter Crisis, the Centre’s Research Lead and development finance expert, Shakira Mustapha, is joined by
Counter Crisis Episode 1: The State of Pre-Arranged Financing
While few would disagree on the importance of having plans in place before a crisis happens, why is there so little pre-arranged crisis financing, and why does a significant portion go to nations already better-equipped to handle disasters?...
