Episode 8: Josh Macabuag

This episode of Inventive Podcast is an exciting insight into a profession we only get a glimpse of in news reports, through the eyes of an engineer who wants to make a positive impact on the world.

Disaster Risk Engineer Josh Macabuag been at the scene of major natural disasters around the world. He was part of the SARAID (Search and Rescue Assistance in Disasters) relief team at the tsunami Japan in 2011, the earthquake in Nepal in 2015 and, most recently, the earthquake in Haiti in 2021. As a volunteer with SARAID, he has to find the least dangerous way of getting people out of collapsed buildings, making on-the-spot decisions relying on his intuition. His day job involves quantifying the risks and costs of catastrophes for The World Bank. Josh was the first person in his family to go to university, studying engineering at Oxford. He counts his dad, a car mechanic, as one of his major influences. A humanitarian and engineer, Josh tells his remarkable story to Trevor Cox.

Writer Nina Allen, a winner of the British Science Fiction Association Award, is included in The Guardian's 2018 list of 'Fresh voices: 50 writers you should read now'. We asked Nina to write a short story based on Josh's interview with Trevor. On the process of writing her story, 'Forces and Loads', Nina says, 'It was the most engaging and inspirational, most unusual participation that I've ever experienced'. Her sinister story uncovers more than people trapped in the rubble of an earthquake.

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Josh Macabuag - https://www.ice.org.uk/what-is-civil-engineering/civil-engineer-profiles/joshua-macabuag

SARAID - https://www.saraid.org/

The World Bank - https://www.worldbank.org/en/home

Fresh Voices: 50 writers you should read now: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/mar/31/fresh-voices-50-writers-you-should-read-now

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