What's Next for
Disaster Voices Lab

The events following the Eaton Fire revealed a critical gap in disaster preparedness that few communities have addressed: the absence of trusted, community-based communication infrastructure capable of operating when traditional systems are overwhelmed.

Disaster Voices Lab was born from lived experience. The Altadena Talks team did not develop its approach in a classroom or laboratory. It was built in real time while navigating evacuation orders, loss, uncertainty, and the urgent need for accurate information. In the absence of a formal playbook, local residents became reporters, fact-checkers, resource navigators, and community connectors. The result was a trusted communications model that helped thousands of people access timely updates, locate resources, and remain connected during one of the most challenging periods in their community's history.

The next phase of Disaster Voices Lab is to transform this field-tested model into a scalable framework that can be adopted by communities everywhere.

Disaster Voices Lab is not creating more podcasters. It is building the communications equivalent of a CERT program: equipping ordinary people with the tools, training, and confidence to become trusted information stewards when their communities need them most.

Because when disaster strikes, information saves lives. And every community deserves a voice prepared to answer the call before it ever happens.