Abstract/Summary

The chapter examines the international legal foundations of DRR through the principles of prevention, mitigation, and preparedness. It is argued that the meaning of, as well as the relationship between, the principles are more complex than is often described within legal scholarship. In particular, the positioning of legal obligations within these ‘phases’ as situated on a linear timeline of the ‘disaster management cycle’ is rejected, in favour of a more functional approach focusing on the extent to which international law provides obligations relating to the prevention and minimisation of disaster losses. It is argued that this approach opens up conceptual spaces to account for measures not accurately fitting into the specific principles or phases (such as early warning systems) EWSs) and that the approach provides a clearer analysis of existing obligations, as well as identifies gaps to be addressed in the future.