RECHARGE NRT focuses on the causes, consequences of, and community responses to cascading natural hazards. Combinations of climate-related hazards (e.g., floods, droughts, heat, wildfires) and other geohazards (e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, volcanic eruptions) are causing increasing damage to social cohesion, infrastructure, and ecosystems. However, traditional disciplinary-specific graduate training in disaster planning and response tends to focus on individual types of hazards, with minimal engagement with the affected communities. The Pacific Northwest offers an excellent laboratory for investigating how society reacts to the complex dynamics of overlapping hazards through the lens of coupled social, ecological, and technological systems (SETS). Because of their relatively cool and wet climates and growing tech-enabled economies, Washington, Oregon, and northern California have been attracting people from hotter and drier regions where they’ve been exposed to different combinations of hazards. The resulting changes in population, affluence, governance regimes, management practices, and technology all impact the ability of communities to respond to extreme events and hazards and protect their residents’ resilience and well-being.

We are interested in addressing questions like:

Ø  What Earth system processes and human influences create conditions that cause cascading hazards? 

Ø  How do we assess the impacts of cascading hazards on communities, economies, and infrastructure?

Ø What are the potential social, ecological, and technological impacts of cascading hazards across spatial and temporal scales?

Ø  How do different communities perceive and respond to cascading hazards? 

Ø  Can cities establish resilient infrastructure to cope with compounding hazards?

Ø  How can expanding urban areas cope with the multiple pressures of climate change- (e.g., increasing heat, more frequent floods, worsening droughts, larger wildfires) and non-climate-related hazards (earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions)?

Ø  What novel social institutions can most effectively engage relevant stakeholders in disaster management?