The devastation to historic resources from natural disasters is a problem that manypreservationists must deal with throughout the United States. Due to lack of preparation andplanning many resources are lost unnecessarily from hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, andother disasters. The purpose of this thesis is to focus on strategies for disaster mitigation andrecovery in the southeastern United States and to analyze the progress made in historicpreservation and disaster planning within the past eighteen years. To do this disaster planningstrategies are discussed in depth and case studies comparing and contrasting Hurricane Hugo andHurricane Katrina are provided. The general conclusion of this study is that progress has beenminimal in terms of preparedness and issues of disaster planning still need to be addressed in thepreservation community.