A Brief History

For decades, the leaders of various hazards and disaster research centers and institutes have opportunistically gathered together at the Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop in Colorado and discussed the need for an alliance to serve as the collective voice of these diverse centers and institutes.

In 2015, the Global Alliance of Disaster Research Institutes (GADRI) was formed in Japan after a United Nations meeting to try to bring together disaster research institutes globally. In recognition of the need for a collective entity for hazards and disaster research centers and institutes on a more focused sub-regional level, various center directors met in 2017 and decided to form an organization that would specifically connect disaster research institutes within North America.

A few months later, in February of 2018, a group of center and institute directors gathered for two full days in Boulder, Colorado to discuss this effort and the steps needed to bring this organization into fruition.

Center directors meet Colorado to discuss the need for a coalition of North American disaster research centers and institutes.

A few months later, in July of 2018, a larger group of center and institute directors met at the 2018 Natural Hazards Workshop. There they voted nearly unanimously to adopt a charter to form the North American Alliance of Hazards and Disaster Research Institutes (NAAHDRI). This charter serves as the guiding documentation around which all of the goals, activities, and efforts of the Alliance are based.

Center and institute directors and their representatives gather at the 43rd Annual Natural Hazards Workshop in Broomfield, Colorado.

In July 2019, the newly-elected Board of Directors met to discuss the NAAHDRI’s priorities for the upcoming year as well as the longer-term visions and goals of the Alliance. There meeting was followed by a gathering of the members of NAAHDRI at the 2019 Natural Hazards Workshop.

NAAHDRI members gather in Broomfield, Colorado, at the 44th Annual Natural Hazards Workshop.