PurposeLearning at the local level is an important contributor to safe and resilient communities. The purpose of this article is therefore to explore what motivates municipalities in Norway to learn from disasters and how they learn from them. This purpose has been fulfilled by (1) addressing the process of learning from disasters occurring within municipalities, and (2) learning from disasters in other municipalities, in particular from the terrorist incidents that occurred in Oslo on 22 July 2011.Design/methodology/approachAn interview study was conducted of individuals responsible for municipal emergency preparedness.FindingsUnwanted events that occur outside municipal borders only trigger learning processes if they are geographically proximate. Events occurring within the geographical borders of the municipality represent greater potential for learning than those occurring outside its borders. Availability of resources for municipal civil protection activities is another factor that has an impact on learning.Originality/valueThe local level plays a key role in generating and maintaining adequate civil protection and emergency preparedness in society. Although the literature on learning from disasters is extensive, learning processes at the local level have been given little attention. This article thus contributes to the existing body of knowledge by studying learning processes following disasters at the local level.