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RESEARCH, POLICY and PRACTICE

ENHANCE system readiness for disasters; EDUCATE and train the workforce to build resilience from catastrophic events; FOSTER community preparedness and engagement; UNDERSTAND population vulnerability; and ANALYZE strategies to improve disaster recovery.

In Focus

Disaster Management is Complex

Law’s Adaptations in Times of Climate Disaster

What have we learned?

It’s been one year since the wildfires devastated Los Angeles.

Top Stories in 2025

A look back at the stories and videos that shaped our year at the State of the Planet.

What We Do

Training + Education

Since NCDP’s founding in 2003, NCDP has provided education and training to the workforce for more than 100,000 learners through web-based, instructor-led, virtual, and hybrid training.

Research

NCDP conducts impact-oriented multi-disciplinary research to inform the readiness of governmental and non-governmental systems, articulate the complexities of post-disaster recovery, demonstrate the power of community engagement, and quantify the risks of human vulnerability.

Practice + Policy

The practice of emergency preparedness and response requires planning and skills in many kinds of emergency preparedness capabilities and skills. At NCDP, we are focused on the analysis and understanding of the beliefs, guiding principles, and broad courses of action and policies to achieve better outcomes following disasters.

Preparedness Tools

NCDP has developed tools and resources to help aid planners, policymakers, individuals and families, and public/private institutions prepare for and respond to disasters to make our communities more resilient.

NCDP Perspectives

Capacity Building with the Ethiopian Meteorological Institute

By Sumana Palle Introduction In December 2025, I traveled to Addis Ababa, as part of a technical capacity-building mission with NCDP’s Financial Instruments (FIST) team, formerly of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI). Led by Max Mauerman from NCDP and Jeff Turmelle from the Columbia Climate School, the mission was conducted in …

Leveraging Next-Generation Tsunami Early Warning Systems to Save Lives

Also published in the Columbia Climate School, State of the Planet. When an enormous 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck near Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, the impact reached far beyond its epicenter. In the passing hours, tsunami alerts were issued by several nations with coastlines along the Pacific Ocean’s Ring of Fire, prompting evacuations and escalating emergency response efforts from …

What is the Climate Finance Vulnerability Index (CliF-VI)?

By: Amy Campbell, Student Researcher, National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) Adaptation finance is critically underfunded, with existing finance skewed toward mitigation and middle-income markets. Many countries facing the highest climate risk also carry significant debt burdens and have been repeatedly downgraded by credit rating agencies, thereby increasing their cost of capital and pushing adaptation …