COVID-19: A disaster

Natural and technological disasters have now been joined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected all countries since 2020. This article shows the extent to which the pandemic fulfils the definition of a disaster in the light of the situation facing Martinique and other islands. This article illustrates the value of the lessons learned from the experiences shared between the partners of the European Horizon 2020 No Fear project during the first waves. It also demonstrates that the pandemic interferes with the appropriate response to other parallel disasters: the explosion in Beirut, heat waves, fires, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, confrontations and crowd movements, migratory flows from Afghanistan, etc. Thoughts on ways of better preparing and anticipating, as well as fostering cooperation and international aid are presented, as they may be discussed on a national level, within the European Commission or NATO.