This literature review contributes to the work of the IFRC Disaster Law Programme to support governments in strengthening their domestic legal frameworks to enable more effective disaster recovery. 

It reviewed documents published between 1999 and 2020 and examines:

• key concepts associated with disaster-related ‘recovery’ and ‘reconstruction’ as understood by governments, practitioners, scholars and international organisations
• the state of international laws, rules and principles with respect to recovery and reconstruction
• key legal and operational issues arising in recovery and reconstruction, which may be relevant to domestic law and policy making.