The Cambridge Handbook of Disaster Law and Policy: Risk, Recovery, and Redevelopment

This century's major disasters from Hurricane Katrina and the Fukushima nuclear meltdown to devastating Nepalese earthquakes and the recent crippling volcanic eruptions and tsunamis in Tonga have repeatedly taught that government institutions are ill-prepared for major disaster events, leaving the most vulnerable among us unprotected. These tragedies represent just the beginning of a new era of disaster – an era of floods, heatwaves, droughts, and pandemics fueled by climate change. Laws and government institutions have struggled to adapt to the scope of the challenge; old models of risk no longer apply. This Handbook provides timely guidance, taking stock of the field of disaster law and policy as it has developed since Hurricane Katrina. Experts from a wide range of academic and practical backgrounds address the root causes of disaster vulnerability and offer solutions to build more resilient communities to ensure that no one is left behind.

Susan Kuo is a Professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law and an affiliated researcher with the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute. Her research focuses on disaster law and social justice and has been published in law reviews including the Iowa Law Review, Washington University Law Review, Boston College Law Review, Indiana Law Journal, and U.C. Davis Law Review. Before entering academia, she was a Special Assistant United States Attorney with the United States Attorney's Office in Atlanta, Georgia and completed two federal judicial clerkships.

John Travis Marshall teaches environmental, land use, and property Law. He is co-author of Market Demand-Based Planning and Permitting (2017) and co-editor of How Cities Will Save the World (2016). He entered law practice with Holland & Knight LLP's Tampa office, where he became a partner specializing in land use and zoning matters as well as real estate litigation. In 2007, he joined the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) as a project manager and counsel, helping implement post-Hurricane Katrina urban revitalization efforts for Orleans Parish.

Ryan Max Rowberry teaches Anglo-American legal history, natural resources law, and property law. He is co-author of Historic Preservation Law in a Nutshell (2018) and Land Use Planning and Development Law (2018). As a Fulbright scholar to Denmark in 2018, he studied legal frameworks for protecting coastal cultural heritage. He has also assisted 13 Caribbean nations with reforming their cultural heritage laws. He practiced environmental and natural resources law with Hogan Lovells in Washington, DC and served as a U.S. Supreme Court Fellow in 2011.