In 2005, states, development and humanitarian organizations, and other stakeholders adopted the Hyogo Framework for Action,1 setting a series of priorities for global action to reduce the risk of disasters. The first of these priorities was to “ensure that disaster risk reduction is a national and a local priority with a strong institutional basis for implementation,” notably through the adoption of supportive legislation. Since then, a number of countries have adopted or begun to consider new laws, policies and insti- tutional arrangements for disaster risk reduction (DRR). Yet, as of 2009, participants at the Second Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction concluded that there was still “a pressing need to build institutions, including legal frameworks, to sustain disaster risk reduction action as an ongoing concern,” and noted that “several countries stressed the need for technical assistance, to help grow their capacities.” While a great deal of information and resources have been developed to share best practices about DRR generally, specific information about what legislation can (and cannot) accomplish has remained limited.
