Laws, policies and plans for disaster recovery: multi-country synthesis report

This report focuses on domestic recovery governance, meaning the ensemble of laws, policies, plans and institutional arrangements that underpin recovery in a given country (or jurisdiction). The report analyses and provides recommendations on how these instruments and arrangements can be used to prepare for recovery by creating the architecture of an effective recovery system in advance of disaster.

Overall, this report finds that recovery has been overlooked compared to other phases of disaster management. However, preparation is vital to ensuring timely and appropriate recovery assistance, the availability of adequate resources and effective coordination of a multitude of government and non-government actors. Laws, policies, plans and institutional arrangements can underpin a comprehensive recovery system, but they need to be developed and tested in advance of disasters to achieve readiness for recovery.