Law and Recovery From Disaster: Hurricane Katrina

In August of 2005 Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of the United States directly affecting 1.5 million people. Only one year earlier an Indian Ocean tsunami struck Indonesia destroying or damaging more than 370000 homes. As forces of nature hurricanes tsunamis earthquakes and floods are not limited to occurrences in any one community or any one country. In Law and Recovery from Disaster: Hurricane Katrina attention is focused on the ability of law and legal institutions to not only survive such disasters but to effectively facilitate recovery. Using Hurricane Katrina as a lens contributors address a wide range of issues of interest to people concerned about property law disaster preparedness housing insurance small business recovery land use planning and the needs of people with disabilities. While Hurricane Katrina is the focal point for discussion the lessons learned are readily applicable to a variety of disaster situations in a wide range of global settings.