Wildfires. Earthquakes. Hurricanes and tornadoes. Flooding. Power outages. Violent attacks.

More and more, schools and universities are having to deal with and recover from catastrophic events like these to stay focused on their core mission of educating students.

The evidence indicates that these devastating events are happening more frequently. A research brief from SRI Education cited a global study that found that a 10-year-old child today will experience twice as many wildfires and tropical cyclones, three times more river floods, four times more crop failures, and five times more droughts over their lifetime compared with a 10-year-old child in 1970.

In the United States, statistics from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show that from 1980 to 2024, there was an average of nine weather/climate disaster events per year with losses exceeding $1 billion (adjusted for inflation). In 2024 alone, there were 27 such events.

Education institutions are frequently among those suffering harm in these weather disasters.

"Schools may be destroyed by a tornado, closed because of extreme heat and cold, or repurposed as emergency centers during hurricanes," SRI Education says. "Teachers may become absent, displaced, or unavailable. Students may be temporarily relocated to other school districts or move to another area altogether."

The growing risk that a school or university will be disrupted by a calamity has motivated many educators and planners to incorporate resilient design as they construct and renovate their facilities. By assessing risks and taking steps to avoid or mitigate them, resilient design helps schools withstand and recover more quickly from disasters or other disruptions.

Resilience is especially important for schools because, more than other facilities, they play a key role as part of the community. A school that is resilient enough to keep functioning may serve as a shelter for those displaced in a disaster or a hub where food or medicine is distributed.

Schools that can recover quickly and resume normal instruction may provide a measure of stability that helps the community at large move forward from a disaster.