Written by Eilif Ursin Reed, Guest Contributor | 21 February 2012

An earthquake may bury hatred and conflict for a while, but enemies are still enemies when the dust settles.

One would think that helping each other out with personnel and goods after a devastating disaster would work wonders for strained diplomatic relationships. However, this is usually not the case, according to Ilan Kelman from the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research – Oslo (CICERO). Kelman recently published the book Disaster Diplomacy - How disasters affect peace and conflict.

The premise of disaster diplomacy is that if disaster strikes a conflict zone, traditional enemies will put down their arms, cooperate, and their diplomatic ties will be strengthened. This is a popular narrative in the media whenever a natural disaster involves countries that are usually associated with conflict. Hope of a diplomatic thaw popped up when two earthquakes struck in Greece and Turkey in 1999, when the U.S. offered Iran help after the 2003 earthquake in Bam, and again in 2011 when Israel offered Turkey help after the earthquake in Van. Though expecting a diplomatic thaw might be the only decent thing to expect after a natural disaster, it rarely happens. What’s more, such expectations might actually do more harm than good, according to Kelman.

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