Responding to emergencies is not like in the movies

Lots of people have seen too many American movies, where the heroes come flying in on planes and are met with open arms. But that has never been the case in my experience - if your house is in shambles and you're fighting with your family members, then you don’t invite the neighbours over. It is a bit the same in emergencies. We are always received with a lot of reservations and questioning: “Why are you here and what can you do for me? You've never been here before and you don't know about my situation.” I just say: “No, I don’t. But I do know disasters and their dynamics, and that is what I can bring you.” My aim is to always stay friendly but decisive.

Building trust with the locals is everything

I’ve been an UNDAC member for 20 years, and I now know that building trust with local people and institutions takes a long time. It is important to make sure you are always listening and try to understand their motivations. We must always remember just how difficult it is for leaders in those situations: people are looking to them, but it is often the first time they have been in this crisis, and they feel they cannot fail.

The hardest part of disaster management is making life-or-death decisions

For me, response is hardest when I must take very important decisions, like whether to end a search-and-rescue phase, or where to prioritize search and rescue. In Haiti, some towns further from the epicentre of the earthquake didn’t get search and rescue as we didn’t have the means to reach them, and of course I feel a lot of guilt about that. When I close the search-and-rescue phase, I'm also saying: “No, there is no more hope for finding survivors under the rubble.” These are very tough choices to make.