“After Kobe’s [1995] earthquake, it was the resilience and initiatives of the affected familiesin the face of cold weather, water shortages and poor communications that provided the basis for the initial response, not the pre-planned emergency systems.”

Learning from Urban Disasters: Learning from previous response and recovery operations (2009)

“Local and national coping strategies should be taken into account and built upon rather than outside agencies deciding on project intervention.”

Tsunami Emergency: Lessons from previous natural disasters (2005)

“While [affected people] have specific rights and needs,they also have capabilities and strengths to offer.”

Flood Disasters: Learning from previous relief and recovery operations (2008)

“It is important in Gaza not to fly in a huge number of international staff, because of the tendency of this to undermine local staff capacity – which is considerable… 

Ensure coordination of response uses appropriate mechanisms, builds on existing structures and local capacities, and includes key actors on the ground.”

Deepening Crisis in Gaza: Lessons for operational agencies (2009)

“Overall coordination with the government of Haiti was weak: ‘local authorities… complained that three months after the earthquake they felt ‘like strangers in [their] own city’.”

Responding to Urban Disasters: Learning from previous relief and recovery operations (2012)

“Humanitarian assistance needs to be implemented in a way that strengthens existing capacities, resources and networks.”

Humanitarian Interventions in Settings of Urban Violence, 2014

“Engage broadly and rapidly with local and national actors – even the most affected communities and authorities have some level of capacity after an earthquake.”

Responding To Earthquakes (2019)