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. The economic damage of weather and climate-related disasters alone cost the U.S. $145 billion alone in 2021, which was one of the costliest – and deadliest – years in recent history. The number and impact in the United States and around the world is only going to grow due to climate change.
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.
