Disaster Research Unit
The Disaster Research Unit (DRU), founded in 1987, is one of the pioneering institutions in Germany with a social-scientific and anthropological focus on disaster and catastrophe research. The field of research, teaching and consulting activity of the DRU covers the whole disaster and security cycle, ranging from the perception of risk, risk reduction and disaster prevention, to preparation, warning and disaster behavior, coping with disaster, and sustainable reconstruction in countries of the Global South as well as in industrialized countries. In recent years the research focus has been expanded to encompass sustainability, global environmental change—especially climate change mitigation, vulnerability and adaptation—and security research.