一、发达国家依法治理灾害的实践与我国依法治理灾害的必要性我国是自然灾害频发的国家。例如，湖南位于长江中游，处在洞庭湖的南岸，是一个自然灾害多发的省份。继１９９１、１９９３、１９９５、１９９６年部分河流发生洪水之后，１９９８年又发生了历史上罕见的水灾，受灾 I. The Practice of Developed Countries in Disaster Management and the Necessity of Managing Disasters in accordance with the Law in China China is a country where natural disasters are frequent. For example, Hunan is located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, on the south bank of Dongting Lake. It is a province where natural disasters occur frequently. Following the floods in some of the rivers in 1991, 1993, 1995 and 1996, a rare flood in history occurred in 1998,