In the aftermath of the devastating 1990 Guilan and Zanjan earthquake, the Technical Capacity Mobilization Office of Iran was established to oversee the reconstruction of the affected areas in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), under the supervision of the Housing Foundation of the Islamic Revolution. Following the conclusion of the World Bank's loan and the approval of a new statute in 1993, the Centre for Natural Disasters Mitigation Studies of Iran was established and continued its operations until 1998.
In 1998, the Centre was renamed the Natural Disasters Research and Study Centre. In response to a national need for research on natural disasters, the Centre’s statute was revised in 2003. With the permit issued by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology and approval from the Higher Education Development Council, the Centre was transformed into the Natural Disasters Research Institute to achieve the following goals:
1. Development and promotion of research in the field of natural disasters.
2. Providing a conducive environment for advancing related research activities.
Currently, the Institute consists of six research groups: the Crisis Management Research Group, the Environmental Hazards and Meteorological Disasters Research Group, the Structural Retrofitting and Reconstruction Research Group, the Hydrological Hazards Research Group, the Geological Hazards Research Group, and the Post-disaster Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Research Group.