Editorial: Prevention, mitigation, and relief of compound and chained natural hazards, volume II

In the face of global climate change and intensifying environmental variability, the frequency, magnitude, and complexity of natural hazards have significantly increased (Masson-Delmotte et al., 2021; Xu and Xu, 2021; Huang et al., 2023; Gao et al., 2024; Wang et al., 2025; Wu et al., 2025; Xu et al., 2025). These events rarely occur in isolation. Instead, they interact spatially and temporally, generating compound and chained disasters that amplify impacts across interconnected systems (Pescaroli and Alexander, 2015; Gill and Malamud, 2017; Zscheischler et al., 2018; Van Wyk de Vries, 2025). This presents unprecedented challenges to disaster risk science and emergency management. Building upon the success of the first volume of this Research Topic, which focused on earthquake-related hazard chains and geohazards (Xu et al., 2024), the second volume expands its scope to encompass a broader array of hazard interactions, covering geophysical, hydrological, and anthropogenic domains. It directly responds to the original call for papers, which emphasized five core themes: (1) formation and evolution mechanisms of compound and chained hazards, (2) multi-hazard model building and chain-breaking strategies, (3) source detection and database construction, (4) intelligent early warning and risk assessment technologies, and (5) emergency equipment and post-disaster recovery. This editorial provides a structured synthesis of the 14 accepted contributions in Volume II. The articles are grouped thematically and highlight emerging research frontiers including artificial intelligence (AI), high-resolution geospatial analysis, integrated physical and empirical modeling, and intelligent sensing technologies for real-time hazard monitoring.