PrintSummary: Response
In sum, all disaster responses require coordination, cooperation, and cultural sensitivity, but the complexity of, and challenges presented by, the response effort increases significantly with the size of the disaster. The case of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami – one of the greatest disasters of all time, with an enormous, unprecedented response required of the international community to address a disaster that affected numerous developing countries with varying languages, cultures, religions, and levels of development – demonstrates this complexity. Emergency response policies at all scales need to recognize and account for complexity.