Our institute promotes scientific studies, proposes new countermeasures to extreme and large-scale disasters, such as the 2004 Mid-Niigata Earthquake, and aims to establish a centralized center of excellence studying natural hazards and disaster recovery for the Japan Sea coastline and East-Asia Rim zone.

Our institute was established in 1969 when landslide and snowfall/avalanche research was conducted in several different faculties and departments. Upon combining these independent research verticals, the institute became the “Research Center for Hazards in Snowy Areas” in 1978 as a joint university educational facility consisting of three sections, ground hazards, snow and ice hazards, and conservation of soil and water. Studies were promoted on snow and ice avalanches and landslides in snow melting seasons.

After the 2004 Mid-Niigata Earthquake Disaster, a more integrated research program was organized at our University that covers a broad range of subjects from natural hazards to societal disaster recovery in mountainous areas. This program’s achievements have been well received by the scientific community and led to the establishment in 2006 of the “Research Center for Natural Hazards and Disaster Recovery”. In 2011, renamed as the “Research Institute for Natural Hazards and Disaster Recovery”, our organization successfully contributed to the launch of a wide collaboration between natural science, human-social sciences, and medical science for the development of practical solutions to problems relevant to natural hazards and disaster recovery.

Reorganized again in 2015, our studies now focus on the mechanisms underlying the reality of changing and intensifying natural hazards in the 21st-century with the aim of contributing more to the establishment of disaster-resilient societies.

In the future, the institute will strongly promote its research on various disasters in snowy regions, which is one of its specialties, both domestically and internationally, and will vigorously promote collaborative efforts and joint research with domestic and foreign research institutes with the aim of becoming a research center for creating a resilient society against unpredictable disasters. We appreciate your cooperation and contributions to our activities.

Atsushi URABE, D.Sc
Director and Processor of Research Institute for Natural Hazards and Disaster Recovery