What can a tornado teach us about kindness?

Summary

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Short Wave — What Can a Tornado Teach Us About Kindness?

Podcast: Short Wave (NPR)
Hosts: Emily Kwong, Pauline Bartoloni
Date: June 23, 2026
Duration: ~15 minutes

Episode Overview

This episode explores an intriguing question: how do catastrophic events like tornadoes reveal and amplify human kindness and compassion? Through the story of survivor Nanda Nunnally and expert insights, hosts Emily Kwong and reporter Pauline Bartoloni examine the social science behind why disasters often bring people together, fostering acts of altruism and deep, unexpected connections.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Joplin Tornado: A Personal Story

• [00:40] Pauline introduces the story of Nanda Nunnally, who survived the 2011 Joplin, Missouri tornado.
• As the tornado approached, Nanda, her husband, and their dog sheltered in a closet.
• Quote:
  "You could see what looked like a wall of rain or something. And it took a second to understand, that's a tornado." — Nanda Nunnally [01:00]
• Nanda describes the tornado’s roar and the overwhelming physical sensation: "It was like standing in between two rail lines with trains going by you...the suction was like pulling your eardrums out." — Nanda Nunnally [01:24]
• Facing possible death, Nanda surprisingly thought of a girl she’d bullied in childhood, regretting never having apologized: "This is going to be the last thing that happens to me. And I'm like, oh, my God. I never got to tell her I'm sorry." — Nanda Nunnally [02:29]

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2. Catastrophe, Compassion, and Human Nature

• [03:19] Pauline and Emily shift to the idea that disaster often brings out the best in people.

• Nanda and her husband survived, but 160 people did not. However, the town's story became known for generosity.

• [06:21] Nearly 100,000 volunteers arrived to help Joplin rebuild, coming from across the U.S. and even Japan.

  Quote:
  "Ranchers cooking steaks for volunteers...a university dean who set up cots at an emergency shelter even after losing his own home." — Pauline Bartoloni [06:24]

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3. The Psychology of Disaster-Driven Kindness

• [06:49] Pauline discusses research into behavior after mass trauma.

  • Disasters tend to produce an “outpouring of kindness” and bonds among strangers.

  • Jamil Zaki, social psychologist at Stanford, calls this phenomenon “catastrophe compassion”:

    Quote:
    "Catastrophe compassion is the idea that after something terrible happens, people, instead of falling apart and focusing on themselves, come together and try to do for one another." — Jamil Zaki (as introduced by Pauline Bartoloni) [07:07]

• Group Identity Melting Away
  • Disasters erase normal group boundaries; survivors feel united as part of a new “tribe.” "If you're on a bus that gets bombed or you're in a street that gets hit by a tornado, you suddenly have a lot in common with the people right next to you." — Jamil Zaki [08:01]
  • Sharing emotional experiences with others in similar situations creates strong bonds.

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4. Personal Healing and Acts of Service

• [08:45] Pauline returns to Nanda’s story:

  • After the tornado, Nanda sought out and apologized to the woman she bullied decades ago. They became friends, and Nanda began co-running a Joplin community center that shelters the unhoused during weather emergencies.

    Quote:
    "I don't know how anyone could go through that and come out and not think about, how can I help the next person?" — Nanda Nunnally [09:21]

• Altruism Born of Suffering

  • Psychologists say trauma can lead to “altruism born of suffering”—a motivation to help based on personal hardship. (Pauline, [09:32]) "When we experience some type of pain, it's almost like we have an easier time accessing that suffering in other people and a stronger desire to do something about it." — Jamil Zaki [09:55]

• Shared Emotional Realities Create Trust and Helpfulness

  • Emily notes being “bonded” to people with whom she’s experienced hardship, even minor ones, because of that emotional reality ([10:05]).

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5. Who Helps — And Who Doesn’t? The Mystery of Trauma’s Impact

• Emily raises the contradiction that adverse experiences can also lead to negative outcomes ([10:42]).
• Pauline and Jamil Zaki discuss that both trajectories (prosocial or harmful) are possible after trauma.
• Support Is Key:

  • Feeling supported during hardship makes it more likely a person will later help others:

    Quote:
    "If when you go through something, somebody is there for you, you are much more likely to then want to go and be there for somebody else." — Jamil Zaki [11:25]

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6. The Longevity of Catastrophe Compassion

• Research shows collective compassion often fades within months as survivor identity gives way to individual priorities ([11:39]). "Whether that sense of togetherness lasts...depends on whether we revisit it and how much it defines our lives." — Jamil Zaki [12:07]

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7. Can We Foster Compassion Without Crisis?

• Emily wonders: “Why did it take this?” and asks if we can cultivate unity without disaster ([12:25]).

• Jamil suggests compassion is possible “in mundane times,” if we recognize shared challenges (e.g., climate change) and seek out everyday compassion:

  Quote:
  "We can focus ourselves on our shared challenges...we can tap into more of that catastrophe, compassion." — Jamil Zaki [13:08]

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Notable Quotes

• "When you truly think you're going to die, it's really strange, the things that come into your head." — Nanda Nunnally [02:12]
• "After you share with that person, you may be more bonded to them and be more likely to help them. And these bonds can be deep." — Pauline Bartoloni [10:30]
• "You give what you get." — Jamil Zaki [11:25]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:40 — Introduction of Nanda Nunnally and the 2011 Joplin tornado
• 01:24 — Nanda’s account of the tornado’s impact
• 02:29 — Nanda’s moment of regret about childhood bullying
• 06:21 — Community response and acts of kindness after Joplin tornado
• 07:07 — Explanation of “catastrophe compassion”
• 08:45 — Nanda’s later acts of kindness and apology
• 09:55 — How suffering opens people to empathy and altruism
• 11:25 — The importance of support during trauma in fostering future kindness
• 11:39 — Science on the fading of collective compassion
• 12:25 — Can we create unity and compassion without disaster?
• 13:08 — Ways to foster “catastrophe compassion” in everyday life

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Final Thoughts

The episode closes with the message that kindness and community borne of catastrophe, while powerful and transformative, are often fleeting unless actively cultivated. By recognizing our shared challenges and offering support, we can nurture that spirit even in ordinary life—without waiting for disaster to strike.

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Reporter note: Pauline Bartoloni’s work draws from a special project on the science of love, funded by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.

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Transcript

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[Emily Kwong]

Shortwavers follow us to make sure you never miss an episode. New episodes of Shortwave drop every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. You're listening to Short Wave from npr. Hey, short wavers. Emily Kwong here with reporter Pauline Bartoloni. Hi, Pauline.

[Pauline Bartoloni]

Hey, Emily. Good to be here.

[Emily Kwong]

So today's episode starts with a story that begins about 15 years ago, right?

[Pauline Bartoloni]

So we're going to a city in southwestern Missouri, a small city called Joplin, where a woman named Nanda Nunnally lived with her husband and daughter. And on one Evening back in May 2011, the city's tornado sirens went off. Nanda went to the front door to see what was going on.

[Nanda Nunnally]

You could see what looked like a wall of rain or something. And it took a second to, like, understand, that's a tornado. That's the tornado.

[Pauline Bartoloni]

So Nanda and her husband run to a bedroom closet and they crouch down with their tiny dog. And within seconds, the tornado hits.

[Nanda Nunnally]

It was like standing in between two rail lines with trains going by you, and it's like that. You can't hear anything. And the suction was like pulling your eardrums out.

[Emily Kwong]

Wow, that sounds terrifying.

[Pauline Bartoloni]

And Nanda wasn't sure she was going to make it. She held onto her husband and parts of the roof ripped off. She saw the sky above them and

[Nanda Nunnally]

she started praying, thinking, in my head, if I'm dying, is this going to hurt? Dear God, please don't let it hurt.

[Pauline Bartoloni]

But then, to her surprise, she had a thought about an acquaintance from childhood, someone she barely knew.

[Nanda Nunnally]

When you truly think you're going to die, it's really strange, the things that come into your head.

[Emily Kwong]

Wait, so in this moment, an acquaintance popped into her head.

[Pauline Bartoloni]

It was the face of a girl Nanda bullied in eighth grade, thinking, this is it.

[Nanda Nunnally]

This is going to be the last thing that happens to me. And I'm like, oh, my God. I never got to tell her I'm sorry. I never got to tell her I'm sorry, you know?

[Pauline Bartoloni]

So Nanda was lucky that day. About 160 people died in this infamous tornado, but she and her husband survived. And this memory of thinking about the girl she bullied stayed with her.

[Emily Kwong]

It's so astonishing to me that in a moment where she had every reason to think about herself, she was having altruistic feelings about someone else.

[Pauline Bartoloni]

It actually turns out. There's a lot of social psychology around this, why we think about other people when disaster strikes and how the very worst moments in our lives can sometimes bring out our best.

[Emily Kwong]

So today on the show, the social science of catastrophe, compassion, how disasters and traumatic events can bring us together. You're listening to Short Wave, the science podcast from npr.

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[Alon Cohen]

With kick to the head, it makes contact with the outside of my arm, which I brought up. In our world, that's a blocked strike. Yeah, but teaching a computer what exactly that means and when and how, like when my arm is up, that's a block. When my arm is down and hits my shoulder, that's not. It's those nuances that proved incredibly difficult for machines to be able to handle for a very, very long time.

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[Emily Kwong]

catastrophe, compassion, it was a very interesting topic. Let's note this episode grew out of a reporting project you're doing about the science of love through a grant from the Greater Good Science center at UC Berkeley. Shout out to them.

[Pauline Bartoloni]

I know. I feel a lot of gratitude. I'm focusing on how love, like acts of service and kindness towards others, shows up after disasters.

[Emily Kwong]

Amazing. Okay, let's go back to Nanda in Joplin. So she survives this tornado and has this interesting takeaway, right?

[Pauline Bartoloni]

Yeah. So the tornado ripped through this densely populated town in the central part of Joplin. Thousands of homes were destroyed and about a third of the town's 50,000 residents were displaced. But here's why we're talking about this tornado 15 years later. So within months, this town became known not just for its tragedy, but for the Kindness and cooperation that led to its speedy recovery. So almost 100,000 volunteers from almost every state and Japan came to Joplin to help rebuild.

[Emily Kwong]

That's amazing. The amount of people that came together to help.

[Pauline Bartoloni]

It's pretty awesome. Like locals coming out of the woodwork to help. Ranchers cooking steaks for volunteers. A university dean who set up cots at an emergency shelter even after losing his own home. So if you think all of this is rare, this kindness after disaster, research shows it's not.

[Emily Kwong]

Yeah. Let's get into the psychology of this. What does science have to say?

[Pauline Bartoloni]

Yeah. So scientists who have studied behavior after mass trauma say disasters spark an outpouring of kindness and form a powerful bond between strangers. Stanford social psychologist Jamil Zaki actually has a term for this. He. He calls it catastrophe compassion.

[Malcolm Gladwell]

Catastrophe compassion is the idea that after something terrible happens, people, instead of falling apart and focusing on themselves, come together and try to do for one another.

[Pauline Bartoloni]

Jamil says you can see this in history time and time again, this groundswell of collaboration after catastrophe. And he says that the science that explains it comes back to identity.

[Emily Kwong]

Wait, say more. How does. How does this all have to do with identity?

[Pauline Bartoloni]

We tend to lump ourselves into categories, right? Like, I am a Christian, I'm a knitter, I'm a New Yorker. And we tend to care and support for people within our own group. Uh, Jamil says these group identities may actually keep us apart in our everyday lives. Like, I don't identify with so and so the knitters and the crocheters cannot get along.

[Emily Kwong]

I'm just kidding.

[Pauline Bartoloni]

Right.

[Malcolm Gladwell]

Basically.

[Pauline Bartoloni]

But disasters blow away these barriers.

[Malcolm Gladwell]

If you're on a bus that gets bombed or you're in a street that gets hit by a tornado, you suddenly have a lot of. A lot in common with the people who are right next to you. You're part of a tribe that you might not have chosen to join, but one that unites you really powerfully.

[Pauline Bartoloni]

So another element of this is people tend to bond with the folks they share their emotions with. It's like a really basic idea. Right. But the act of sharing hard times you've experienced may come easier to you in a disaster setting when you know that the person you're talking to has gone through the same thing.

[Emily Kwong]

Absolutely. So how does Nanda Nunnally fit into all of this? The woman whose story you told earlier?

[Pauline Bartoloni]

So, Ananda showed up with kindness in a different way after the tornado. While she was recovering, she found the girl she had bullied decades ago on social media and sent her a long Personal apology message.

[Emily Kwong]

Really?

[Pauline Bartoloni]

Yeah.

[Emily Kwong]

What did the girl say?

[Pauline Bartoloni]

The girl? So much gratitude. The two are now friends and correspond with each other. And when Nanda moved back to Joplin years later, she started co running a community center there, which now shelters unhoused people during certain extreme weather events. So it's kind of come full circle.

[Nanda Nunnally]

I don't know how anyone could go through that and come out and not think about, how can I help the next person?

[Pauline Bartoloni]

Wow. And social psychologists have a term for this as well. They call it altruism, born of suffering. This can happen outside the disaster setting to anybody with an individual experience of trauma. Psychologists say personal hardships as a child, for example, can germinate into do good behaviors later in life.

[Malcolm Gladwell]

When we experience some type of pain, it's almost like we have an easier time accessing that suffering in other people and a stronger desire to do something about it.

[Emily Kwong]

I mean, it's a basic idea, but it's nonetheless, like, very profound. When I think about stuff I've been through, whether trapped in an elevator, which is a minor problem, honestly, compared to dealing with a family medical crisis, I'm incredibly bonded with those people, and I feel so seen. It's easier for me to talk to those people than anyone else because we shared the same emotional reality.

[Pauline Bartoloni]

Right. And that's what the research shows, that after you share with that person, you may be more bonded to them and be more likely to help them. And these bonds can be deep.

[Emily Kwong]

It's amazing to hear this, because I can imagine some people may find this kind of counterintuitive. Research has also shown that having a lot of adverse childhood experiences can result in behavioral problems down the line, with people being less kind.

[Pauline Bartoloni]

Totally and totally. I mean, Jamil says that both trajectories can exist out of a traumatic past. And the mystery is, what makes someone more likely to do good after a trauma versus when does a trauma make them more likely to harm others? So this is still a mystery. One important factor, though, he says, is whether someone felt supported by someone else when they were going through hard times.

[Malcolm Gladwell]

If when you go through something, somebody is there for you, you are much more likely to then want to go and be there for somebody else going through it in the future. We are a reciprocal species. You give what you get.

[Pauline Bartoloni]

I do want to mention that when it comes to the collective catastrophe, compassion, some research has shown that it can fade even after a few months. And that temporality also revolves around the idea of identity. Eventually, people's personal identity may become more important than the group Survivor identity. And Jamil acknowledged this phenomenon that compassion can be short lived.

[Malcolm Gladwell]

The question of whether that sense of togetherness lasts or not depends on whether we revisit it and how much it defines our lives. If you don't have community, if you don't keep on reminding yourself and coming back together with the people who you suffered with, then catastrophe, compassion might fade.

[Emily Kwong]

That's interesting. And you know, sometimes I wonder, Pauline, when I see people coming together after disaster, I ask myself, like, why? Why did it take this? Is there any way for there to be unity before a disaster or when there is no disaster to begin with?

[Pauline Bartoloni]

So this is the question, right? And it's something Zachy clearly thought a lot about, how to extend compassion to mundane times. Right. And he says what helps is just to look for it, because sometimes compassion is already there and we just need to recognize it. And also acknowledging that everyone does experience some sort of collective suffering, like, for example, the effects of climate change.

[Malcolm Gladwell]

So to the extent that we can focus ourselves on our shared challenges as opposed to sort of looking away from them and focusing only on our everyday concerns as individuals, we can tap into more of that catastrophe, compassion.

[Emily Kwong]

Pauline, thank you so much for diving into this really interesting science around compassion and disaster with us today.

[Pauline Bartoloni]

Thank you so much, Emily. I love talking about kindness.

[Emily Kwong]

Pauline Bartaloni is a journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and she's a grantee of the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center's Spreading Love through the Media initiative supported by the John Templeton Foundation. You can hear her full story of how Nanda Nunnally survived the Joplin tornado and reconciled with the girl she bullied as a child on the Audible podcast. This is actually happening. Check it out. This episode was produced by Rachel Carlson. It was edited by Brent Baughman and Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones checked the facts. Kwesi Lee was the audio engineer. I'm Emily Kwong. Thank you for listening to Short Wave from npr.

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