International Recovery Platform

This publication is to help a community make risk-based choices to address vulnerabilities, mitigate hazards and prepare for response to and recovery from hazard events. Risk-based means based on informed choices of alternate unwanted outcomes. In other

This briefing paper provides a synthesis of key lessons learned from relief responses to past earthquakes. The main intended audiences are operational decision-makers and relief programme managers working in the South Asia earthquake relief operation.

The tsunami of 2004, one of the worst natural disasters in recent times, hit six countries of the WHO South-East Asia Region. This publication narrates the story of how WHO responded, the tremendous challenges faced, and how they were overcome. Dramatic, poignant photographs, as well as boxes and anecdotes of individuals involved, highlight the very human face of the health sector response to the tragedy.