Good legislation is critical to reducing disaster risks. Law can set the stage for early warning, financing, community empowerment and accountability – or it can obscure and obstruct the necessary steps.
Laws and regulations serve as a foundation for building community resilience. They are essential to reducing existing risks posed by natural hazards, preventing new risks from arising and making people safer. In 2005, the Hyogo Framework for Action highlighted the importance of good legislation to support disaster risk reduction (DRR). The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, adopted in March 2015, calls for a renewed focus on reviewing and strengthening legal frameworks.
In light of this international guidance, many countries have sought to strengthen their laws and regulations for DRR and have been asking: what should good legislation say about DRR?
Since 2012, The IFRC and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have been working on a joint project to research, compare and consult on the efforts of various countries to strengthen how their laws support the reduction of disaster risks, particularly at the community level. In June 2014, they launched a major new study examining 31 countries and in December 2015, they launched a new tool, The Checklist on Law and Disaster Risk Reduction and its accompanying guide, The Handbook on Law and Disaster Risk Reduction, to provide practical guidance on this area of law.
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The fifth edition of the International Disaster Law Course will take place in San Remo, Italy, from 18 to 22 June 2018. The course will be hosted by the International Institute of Humanitarian Law, in cooperation with the International Federation of Re …
By Mercedes Aguerre In 2017, the IFRC’s Americas Regional Office signed two important Memorandums of Understanding that aim to promote the reduction of the effects of disasters caused by natural or human events and to strengthen disaster risk ma …
The American Red Cross launched the North American Humanitarian Response Summit Project (the “NAHRS Project”) in September 2017 to improve the effectiveness of cross-border response to a potential catastrophic disaster in North America.
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