ABSTRACT
Responding to disasters involves the responsibilities of international actors, the government, and local nonstate actors. This chapter argues that indeed disaster responses are not independent from international relations and diplomacy and the decision to assist or not is based on geopolitical and strategic issues. It further concludes that since these interventions are usually based on political and strategic issues, they are faced with failures on the long term. It also stresses on the importance of building strong interorganizational relationships in responding to any disaster specially in a weak state such as in Lebanon. Effective responses are thus directly related to interorganizational and cross-sectoral relationships during a disaster. Building trust, communication, and collaboration between different local and international players are a necessity to successfully respond to any disaster.
