Vision: All communities have the knowledge, capacity, and partnerships to anticipate, mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters.
Mission: The Center for Disaster Resilient Communities brings together the University of Washington, government, and community partners to create and implement transformational hazard and disaster science, build workforce capacity, inform equitable disaster risk reduction policy and practice and contribute to more resilient communities.
Hundreds of millions of people around the world were affected by disasters resulting from natural hazards disasters over the last decade. In just the U.S., weather and climate-related disasters killed more than 5,500 people and cost more than $1 trillion between 2017 and 2023. The number and impact in the United States and around the world is only going to grow due to a changing climate.
Given the scale of this challenge, it has been recognized that the response to these crises – globally, regionally and locally – is a unique and emerging discipline.
The University of Washington is home to more 100 faculty experts working on disaster research in 69 units across 12 colleges and schools. The Center for Disaster Resilient Communities was launched in 2023 to unite and coordinate major research, education, training and technical assistance efforts to expand the UW’s ability to contribute to advances in this field.
