On March 18th, 1937, the students in the junior-senior high school of New London, TX, sat waiting in eager antipation of the end of the school day, looking forward to a three-day weekend. But the school, and many of the students and teachers inside the building, wouldn't make it to 3:30.

Episode 188: The New London school explosion

A podcast about disasters throughout history - what caused them, how people survived, and how we've responded to keep those disasters from happening again.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

In part two of this five-part series, we see local law enforcement in Uvalde arriving at Robb Elementary, and what happens next - and what does not. Videos:   Frontline: Inside the Uvalde Response   Frontline: After Uvalde: Guns, Grief, and Texas Politics   Cell phone video of the parents imploring the police to do something   Disturbing new footage shows Salvador Ramos in Uvalde school, cops running | New York Post   Ballistic Gel Human Head VS 223   Video: Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke clash over Uvalde deaths as governor provides more details on school shooting   Articles and books:   Before the school shooting, Uvalde was known for a 1970 Hispanic student walkout. Its aging participants fear its spirit and memory are fading.   Timeline of the events leading up to, including, and following the attack on Robb Elementary   Department of Justice: Critical Incident Review   Uvalde buries 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza, the first of many funerals to come   Texas cops’ claims unravel: Police didn’t "engage" Uvalde shooter — but they cuffed scared parents   Gunman bought two rifles, hundreds of rounds in days before massacre   Uvalde: 90 minutes of terror, a failed police response and shattered trust   Mom who saved her kids from Uvalde school shooting says police are targeting her   NRA holds convention in Houston days after Texas school shooting   Before massacre, Uvalde gunman frequently threatened teen girls online   The Pulitzer Prize: The Washington Post's winning 2023 series on the damage caused by AR-15s   Nearly two years after the Uvalde massacre, here’s who has been reprimanded and where investigations stand   Uvalde school shooter’s self-proclaimed ex accused of making threats against the community   Uvalde victim's uncle elected to school board nearly two years after shooting   Uvalde mayor abruptly resigns ahead of a council vote on shooting report   21 lives lost: Uvalde victims were a cross-section of a small, mostly Latino town in South Texas   Teenage cousin of Uvalde school shooter arrested and accused of threatening to do 'the same thing'   Uvalde schools hire — and then fire — former DPS trooper under investigation for shooting response   The Gunman in Uvalde Left Multiple Hints Before His Attack Began.k.............................................................................       

Episode 237: The Uvalde school shooting - Part Two

In the first in this five-part series, we look at the town of Uvalde, and the first moments before a normal school day goes from calm to terrifying. Videos:   Frontline: Inside the Uvalde Response  Frontline: After Uvalde: Guns, Grief, and Texas Politics  Cell phone video of the parents imploring the police to do something  Disturbing new footage shows Salvador Ramos in Uvalde school, cops running | New York Post  Ballistic Gel Human Head VS 223   Video: Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke clash over Uvalde deaths as governor provides more details on school shooting   Articles and books:    Before the school shooting, Uvalde was known for a 1970 Hispanic student walkout. Its aging participants fear its spirit and memory are fading.   Timeline of the events leading up to, including, and following the attack on Robb Elementary   Department of Justice: Critical Incident Review   Uvalde buries 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza, the first of many funerals to come   Texas cops’ claims unravel: Police didn’t "engage" Uvalde shooter — but they cuffed scared parents   Gunman bought two rifles, hundreds of rounds in days before massacre   Uvalde: 90 minutes of terror, a failed police response and shattered trust   Mom who saved her kids from Uvalde school shooting says police are targeting her   NRA holds convention in Houston days after Texas school shooting   Before massacre, Uvalde gunman frequently threatened teen girls online  The Pulitzer Prize: The Washington Post's winning 2023 series on the damage caused by AR-15s   Nearly two years after the Uvalde massacre, here’s who has been reprimanded and where investigations stand  Uvalde school shooter’s self-proclaimed ex accused of making threats against the community   Uvalde victim's uncle elected to school board nearly two years after shooting   Uvalde mayor abruptly resigns ahead of a council vote on shooting report   21 lives lost: Uvalde victims were a cross-section of a small, mostly Latino town in South Texas   Teenage cousin of Uvalde school shooter arrested and accused of threatening to do 'the same thing'   Uvalde schools hire — and then fire — former DPS trooper under investigation for shooting response   The Gunman in Uvalde Left Multiple Hints Before His Attack Began  

Episode 236: The Uvalde school shooting - Part One

A year ago this week, I covered the Amagasaki train derailment in 2005 in Japan. Why not cover a second one seven years earlier near a small town in Germany? Videos:   Seconds from Disaster: The Eschede derailment  TS2018 Rail Disasters - Derailment at High Speed (1998 Eschede train disaster)   What Went Wrong: Countdown to Catastrophe: The Eschede Disaster   Articles and books:    Page about the Eschede train disaster memorial   Germany recalls the Eschede train disaster   The Cost of Comfort: The 1998 Eschede Train Derailment  

Episode 235: The Eschede train disaster

It's early in the morning on a Tuesday when you're awakened by the shaking of your bed, of your entire home. You think for a moment it's the end of the world. You and your family make it out of your home, even though so many others do not. For a moment, you think you are safe. Then, you smell smoke. Videos:   A Trip Down Market Street, San Francisco - April 14th, 1906   Disaster by the Bay: The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906    The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake Documentary   Footage of San Francisco's 1906 quake as it occurred   San Francisco after the devastating earthquake in 1906 like you've never seen before in color! [HD]   Articles and books:    The San Francisco Earthquake: A Minute-by-Minute Account of the 1906 Disaster, by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts   The Museum of the City of San Francisco: Timeline of the San Francisco Earthquake, April 18 - 23, 1906, along with a timeline of the graft investigation  

Episode 188: The New London school explosion

Download our free app to listen on your phone