Our lives are all punctuated by culture-changing disaster events. If you were conscious when 9/11 occurred, you will recall where you were when a plane crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. You’ll recall witnessing an event that removed us from “before” and plunged us into “after”. This was also very personal to the author's own life - she was very open about her many miscarriages and her relationship with her husband. It must have been difficult to be so open about this, but I think it is a very important aspect of her life that has also influenced her work and life outlook. The book is actually a road-trip around most of the headline-grabbing disasters of the past couple of decades, the tsunami and 7/7 and Grenfell Tower and a last, rather provisional, chapter about global pandemic. Lucy turns up at them all. Sometimes disasters happen around her, or just after (as at Grenfell) she has delivered training on the subject (the Grenfell training was criticized as too grim and unrealistic). Sprinkled throughout are some of her own personal griefs around child-bearing and infirmity. Reading it you could be forgiven for thinking that if you ever did come across Lucy Easthope socially, it would mean something terrible was either about to happen or just had happened, and you might be tempted to cross the road and meet someone else instead. But that would be a loss. a b Reisz, Matthew (27 March 2022). "When the Dust Settles by Lucy Easthope review – what to do when disaster strikes". The Observer . Retrieved 27 November 2022. a b Rees, Jasper (28 March 2022). "This memoir will do for disaster response what This Is Going to Hurt did for medicine". The Telegraph . Retrieved 27 November 2022.

Drury, Colin (7 March 2018). "This Is What Will Happen When London Runs Out of Water". Vice . Retrieved 27 November 2022. After a bidding war between eight publishers for her memoir When the Dust Settles: Stories of Love, Loss and Hope from an Expert in Disaster, the book was published by Hodder & Stoughton in March 2022. [10] When the Dust Settles [ edit ] Lucy Easthope lives with disaster every day. When a plane crashes, a bomb explodes, a city floods or a pandemic begins, she's the one they call. The gripping story of an extraordinary life spent inside major disasters - from Hillsborough and 9/11 to Grenfell and Covid - from the UK's leading expert on disaster recovery.

I cannot stress how important I felt this book was. Lucy Easthope is a world leading authority on recovering from disaster and in this book she talks about her experiences during and following a variety of different disasters and events across the world. She has travelled across the world in this unusual role, seeing the very worst that people have to face and finding that even the most extreme of situations, we find the very best of humanity. In her moving memoir, she reveals what happens in the aftermath. She takes us behind the police tape to scenes of destruction and chaos, introducing us to victims and their families, but also to the government briefing rooms and bunkers, where confusion and stale biscuits can reign supreme.

It was interesting to read how risks are detailed and managed and how various organisations interlink to ensure the recovery processes are followed in line with current best practice. Of course, things don’t always work out the way they are planned for, and the author identifies where mistakes were made. The way in which different countries and cultures prepare for and deal with the aftermath of disaster was particularly intriguing.a b "New addition to CRJ's Advisory Panel". Crisis Response Journal. April 2022 . Retrieved 27 November 2022. of us simply presume to be rigorous and definitive. She reveals what we might have expected if we had stopped to think about it. Human beings are as flawed and vulnerable in disasters as in everything else. A plan is only as useful as the authorities tasked with actualising it are prepared, interested and sincere.

Out of the dust: Britain’s leading disaster expert on coping with crisis (edited extract from When the Dust Settles, The Guardian, March 2022) For over two decades she has challenged others to think differently about what comes next, after tragic events. She is a passionate and thought-provoking voice in an area that few know about: emergency planning. However in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, her work has become decidedly more mainstream. Alongside advising both the Prime Minister’s Office and many other government departments and charities during the pandemic, she has found time to reflect on a life in disaster. In her fascinating memoir, which also covers the work she's done throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, she shares her experiences of the frontline - Evening Standard Easthope was born and raised in Liverpool, England. [6] She began her career in disaster management and recovery at Kenyon International Emergency Services after completing a degree in law at the University of Bristol and a MSc in Risk, Crisis and Disaster Management at Leicester University. [7] [1] [6]McLaren, Iona (18 November 2022). "The best biographies of 2022: From Queen Elizabeth II to John Donne". The Telegraph . Retrieved 27 November 2022.