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Even for veteran emergency health experts, the tsunami was a unique experience, as one of the worst natural disasters in recent history, and one that affected six countries of the WHO South-East Asia Region simultaneously. The event marked a watershed in the history of disasters in the region. It highlighted many critical issues, and enabled comparisons between different approaches to disaster management in different countries. After the response and early recovery phase, the current period has provided an appropriate time to reflect on the work done and strategies undertaken in the past, and learn how the lessons from this experience can be applied to future disasters all over the world. The regional consultation focused on how to act on and incorporate the lessons learnt from the tsunami into disaster management policies and plans of every nation, so that they could be implemented to strengthen emergency preparedness and response at every level in every country in the region. The emphasis was on action.