The National Science Foundation has awarded $5.3 million in Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grants to help researchers better understand why disasters happen, how we can best respond to them, and how to rebuild after they hit.

A team of researchers at the UW, including Kari Stephens, PhD, and colleagues at collaborating institutions received one of these grants for the Almost Like Maria Project, named after the 2017 hurricane that decimated Puerto Rico’s infrastructure and left 3.1 million people without electricity or access to clean water. The Almost Like Maria Project’s goal is to build infrastructure for a data sharing solution that allows for quick access to environmental and health data to help Puerto Rico’s recovery efforts and future natural disaster affected areas in the future.

“Our hope is that this effort will help population health researchers make discoveries to stave off disasters after the natural disasters and improve community resilience,” said Stephens.