Told through the voices of local community leaders, this book analyzes how communities respond to natural disasters and how outsiders contribute positively - or negatively - to their response, promoting debate on the role of aid and the media in times of crisis.

Dr. Anouk Ride is a peace and conflict researcher in the Pacific Islands region. She was based in Solomon Islands for two decades doing policy orientated research and has managed over 20 projects with Pacific governments, media, police and correctional services, regional organisations and universities. Current academic roles include Associate Professor with the Department of Pacific Affairs at Australian National University and Associate Professor with the Solomon Islands National University.

She has numerous journal articles, 4 books and 12 reports, including the first regional report on riots in the Pacific (Ride, 2022). Her most cited work is a book on community resilience in natural disasters (Ride & Bretherton, 2011). She was awarded the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Research Higher Degree Theses from University of Queensland for her PhD dissertation on narratives of conflict and peace in Solomon Islands (Ride, 2014).

DIANE BRETHERTON is a Peace Psychologist and Former Chair of the Committee for the Psychological Study of Peace for the International Association of Psychological Science. She is the author of many academic journal articles and books on conflict and development. She has worked in a range of conflict regions, including employment with the United Nations in Sri Lanka, for UNESCO in Vietnam, and for the World Bank in Sierra Leone, and is also the winner of three international awards for peace, including the Century of Women Peace Award (2003).