But We Had A Plan | A Disaster Nomad Podcast

What if the real measure of good disaster management isn’t how well we respond to catastrophe, but how much catastrophe we prevent in the first place?

In this episode of But We Had A Plan, Jess sits down with Drew from Logista Response for a wide-ranging conversation about disaster logistics, preparedness, prevention and what it really means to make bad days smaller.

A major focus of the discussion is the logistics behind response: getting the right people, resources and information to the right place at the right time. Jess and Drew unpack why even well-resourced systems can struggle when responders do not know what is available, where it is, how quickly it is being used, or which site needs it most. They also explore what happens when disaster teams are expected to adapt tools and processes that were never designed for the complexity of emergency operations.

They also tackle one of disaster management’s most persistent myths: the idea of the “natural disaster”. Hazards may be natural, but the scale of the disaster is shaped by what we build, what we protect, what we invest in, and the trade-offs we are willing to make before the hazard arrives.

Because sometimes the best disaster response is not the fastest one, but rather the one that means the bad day never becomes quite as bad as it could have been.

A quick production note: Jess’s microphone decided to have a few technical opinions of its own during this recording. You may notice a little unevenness in places, but the conversation was far too good not to share, so we hope you’ll stick with us.

Technology can make us faster, more connected, and better informed, but can it actually improve resilience?

In this episode of But We Had A Plan, Jess sits down with Dimitri Syrris, founder of Baotree, to talk about why organisations still rely on paper forms and spreadsheets, what happens when communities can generate and own their own risk data, and the gap between having information and using it well.

Jess and Dimitri unpack real-world examples from conservation, to tourism, to community risk reduction projects. They explore why resistance to change is often more human than technical, what good data can reveal, and where AI can genuinely strengthen our approaches without removing the people, judgement, and stories that matter most.

Because yes, there probably is an app for it, but the better question is: What happens when humans actually use data well?

Careers in disaster management rarely follow a straight line.

More often, they look like a collection of seemingly unrelated pieces; a degree here, a deployment there, a skill picked up unexpectedly, a role that wasn’t part of the original plan, until eventually, the picture starts to make sense.

In Episode 2 of But We Had A Plan, Natalie Fairchild from Crisis DNA joins us to talk about how people find their way into this field, the many different routes in, the skills that matter, the detours that shape us, and why there is no single blueprint for building a life in disaster management.

It’s a conversation for anyone already working in the sector, trying to break into it, or simply wondering where their own piece might fit.

Sometimes the path only makes sense when you look back at the whole puzzle.

We talk about resilience all the time, but do we actually know what it means?

In the first episode of But We Had A Plan, Jess van Schalkwyk talks through the heart behind starting this podcast and takes a closer look at one of disaster management's favourite words: Resilience.

Drawing on more than a decade of experience across disaster management and humanitarian response, Jess explores the structural, social and adaptive sides of resilience, why returning to “normal" isn't always a measure of success, and what changes when communities are placed at the centre of disaster preparedness and recovery.

From the way we respond to crises to the systems we build before they happen, this episode sets the scene for the conversations ahead, challenging some familiar assumptions and asking what it really takes to build resilience that lasts.