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1 - Catastrophe Is Not the End but the Beginning: Two Centuries of Evolution in US Disaster Law and Policy

from Part I - Critical Perspectives on the Evolution of Disaster Law and Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2022

Susan S. Kuo
Affiliation:
University of South Carolina School of Law
John Travis Marshall
Affiliation:
Georgia State University College of Law
Ryan Rowberry
Affiliation:
Georgia State University College of Law
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Summary

This chapter traces the evolution of federal disaster law and policy in the United States from the nation’s founding to the present. While many excellent histories of related topics already exist, this chapter will focus on three key aspects of this evolution. First, the chapter illustrates how the current federal policy structure is less a comprehensive system than an ad hoc agglomeration of policies and programs built on disparate experiences including natural disasters, wartime preparation, economic crises, and others. Second, the chapter explores the outsize role that political considerations, as opposed to best practices drawn from recovery management experiences, have played in shaping current federal disaster response and recovery approaches. Finally, recent events, including Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Maria, are explored to illustrate the tradeoffs inherent in the United States’ federated system of disaster response.

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Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Disaster Law and Policy
Risk, Recovery, and Redevelopment
, pp. 25 - 47
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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