disaster coping and sustainable reconstruction for industrialised nations as well as the so-called "Global South". In addition to this, the DRU engages in social scientific and humanities basic research alongside other applied research and consulting.

In all of this, the cultural and social aspects form the core pillar of the DRUs work. As the DRU maintains, disasters must be considered and understood within their cultural and societal contexts. For example, extreme weather situations only become risks when they collide with societal and cultural understandings, behaviours, and institutions.

These aforementioned institutions and modes of behaviour not only differ across the globe, as they can even occasionally vary from region to region to the point where a storm in one region may be catastrophic, while in another it would scarcely encroach on the happenings of everyday life.