A tale of two disasters: Unpacking how social learning from the Ebola epidemic shaped COVID-19 response in informal settlements in Freetown

Prior disaster experiences often provide lessons for communities to respond to new disasters. In informal communities prone to disasters but conditioned within reactive disaster management regimes, residents and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) play immense roles in disaster risk reduction and response. In Freetown, Sierra Leone, limited government disaster capacities during health disasters like Ebola and the COVID-19 pandemic occasioned community action led by residents and CBOs. This paper, utilizing qualitative data, draws on the social learning theory to unpack how residents’ and CBOs’ experiences with the Ebola epidemic provided profound lessons that contributed to the COVID-19 pandemic response in two informal communities. Findings highlight how prior disaster experiences consolidate memory and generate attention, retention, motivation, and reproduction of lessons for future disasters. The paper also fronts how lessons from peoples’ lived experiences with disasters can offer pluralistic ways of knowing about disasters and responding to future risks through co-productive and equitable strategies.