The lifelong toll of surviving disaster

BBC · Jul 25, 2026 · 26m

It has been a month since the twin earthquakes in Venezuela, estimated to have killed more than five thousand people. But there have also been some remarkable stories of rescue with people being pulled alive from the rubble many days after the disaster. In our conversations, we bring together people who survived disasters to discuss the long-term impact the events have had on their lives. Marinel lived through Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines in 2013 and was one of the strongest typhoons in recorded history. Jeff was a pupil at the junior school in Aberfan in South Wales. In 1966…