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.

This chapter provides a comparative review of the laws, policies, and programs guiding hazard-prone housing acquisition programs in United States and Aotearoa New Zealand. The two nations were selected because they both possess mature disaster management programs with somewhat similar yet sufficiently different governance structures. They also experience significant exposure to different natural hazard types and take varied approaches to address the many challenges associated with the acquisition of hazard-prone housing. First, we provide a general overview of the hazard-prone housing acquisition process followed by a description of the laws, policies, and programs found in the United States and Aotearoa New Zealand. A comparative review of laws and policies in both countries are described next, that contain varied program elements. These include pre-event planning, funding strategies, open space management rules, climate change adaptation requirements, building code compliance, and equity concerns. The chapter concludes with a series of policy recommendations intended to address identified opportunities for improvement, including cross-cultural lesson-drawing which will also be useful for other countries implementing buyout programs.