This article focuses on the potentially constructive nature of disasters, creating windows of opportunities to address the overlooked and neglected aspects of disaster risk reduction. It uses material from the Zimbabwe cholera disaster of 2008–2009, viewing it as a potential window of opportunity to accelerate the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action. However, the findings suggest that the humanitarian crisis did not necessarily create this window, owing to inadequate authority and power of the agency responsible for disaster risk reduction, an inadequate legal and institutional framework and a lack of an integrated evidence-based approach to advocate disaster risk reduction in Zimbabwe.