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As wildfire disasters multiply, evacuation planning lags

Aug 8, 2022
Fires are unpredictable. They can spark anywhere, grow to any size and move in any direction, says Caroline Mimbs Nyce of The Atlantic.
Evacuated residents watch a fire burn a hillside in California. Wildfires are a relatively new form of disaster, says Caroline Mimbs Nyce, a staff writer at The Atlantic. "There's no playbook."
Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Uncertainty awaits Afghan refugees coming to the U.S.

Aug 23, 2021
"You can't just think of these people as refugees. In a lot of cases, you've got to think of them as returning war veterans."
In this handout provided by the U.S. Air Force, an air crew assigned to the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron assists evacuees aboard a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 21, 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Taylor Crul/U.S. Air Force via Getty Images

"Complete chaos" reigns over Afghan evacuation

Aug 20, 2021
"This is going to be more difficult than the evacuation of Saigon," said Matt Zeller, co-founder of a nonprofit helping with the evacuation effort.
Afghans wait at a military airport in Kabul to board a U.S. aircraft to leave the country, days after the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan.
Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images

Pandemic complicates emergency response to Hurricane Laura

Aug 28, 2020
Officials had to find alternatives to big, crowded evacuation centers.
A couple leave the hotel in Galveston, Texas, where they had taken shelter from Hurricane Laura on Thursday.
Ellie Cherryhomes/AFP via Getty Images

Evacuees without cars face a storm of expenses

Sep 12, 2018
More than 400,000 people without cars are in the path of Hurricane Florence, many of them low-income.
Mike Pollack and his wife, Meredith, move a dock box from their dock in Wilmington, North Carolina, Sept. 13 as Hurricane Florence approaches the area.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

The lessons of losing everything

Jun 29, 2012
A couple who lost almost everything in the Colorado wildfire talks about how they prepared for a natural disaster and how they keep a positive attitude.
Part of the Waldo Canyon fire is viewed on in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

What would you take? The value of stuff in an evacuation

Jun 27, 2012
The wildfires raging in Colorado have many thinking the same questions: What would you take if you had to evacuate your home in an emergency? Here's what Marketplace listeners say.
As wildfires rage across Colorado, state officials are being cautious in how they describe the conflagration, hoping not to scare away its major tourism industry like it did in 2002.
Marc Piscotty/Getty Images

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Mid-day Update: More on Japan, goodbye Zune

Mar 15, 2011
On today's show, Marketplace continued to follow the effects of Friday's earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The Japanese government is monitoring the...