Over the past 20 years, disasters due to natural hazards have affected 4.4 billion people, claimed 1.3 million lives and caused 2 trillion USD in economic losses. These disasters not only brought death and destruction, they did so disproportionately to the poor and marginalized. Disasters have become one of the main threats to sustainable development on a global scale, yet they are preventable.

There is widespread agreement that legal frameworks are a critical tool for governments to shape these choices, both for themselves and for others. This
was recognized by 168 UN Member States in 2005 when they adopted the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters (HFA), and remains so today, as states and other stakeholders discuss its successor agreement.

With this in mind, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have collaborated on a multi-country report to assess legal frameworks for DRR in 31 countries. The purpose of this report is to support legislators, public administrators, and DRR and development practitioners and advocates to prepare and implement effective legal frameworks for disaster risk management (DRM) that are adapted to their own country’s needs, drawing on examples and experience from other countries.