A Clearinghouse on Natural Hazards Research Applications

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The Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder serves as the nation's clearinghouse for knowledge on the societal dimensions of hazards, disasters, and risk. The center is a unit within the Institute of Behavioral Science at CU Boulder. The NHC provides a variety of services for hazards researchers, practitioners in both public and private sectors, students, and the public at large. Those services include: a web site, http://www.colorado.edu/hazards, which provides information and links for the hazards community worldwide; a newsletter, the Natural Hazards Observer, which is designed to promote information-sharing among researchers, emergency management professionals, funding agencies, and decision makers; post-disaster quick-response research funding that enables researchers and students to collect perishable data and identify lessons learned following disasters; a 33,000-item library, web-searchable data base, and customized information services; a book, monograph, and report series; and periodic publications designed to provide research-based guidance to hazards professionals and decision makers. The NHC also serves as a training center for graduate and undergraduate students seeking careers in hazard-related fields. The NHC serves both the scientific community and the broader U.S. public by encouraging knowledge exchange among the research community, professional emergency managers, governmental and private sector officials, and the general public. The center is a leader in promoting evidence-based emergency management and in working to see that hazard and disaster management policies and programs have a sound basis in scientific research. At the same time, through its many contacts outside academe, the NHC also encourages the incorporation of real-world experiences and issues within the research process. Center staff are often called upon by the media, government agencies, and private sector organizations to explain and interpret social science knowledge on disasters and hazards.