Understanding interlinkages between long-term trajectory of exposure and vulnerability, path dependency and cascading impacts of disasters in Saint-Martin (Caribbean)

•Long-term oriented interdisciplinary approaches are requested to understand path dependency.•Deeply-enrooted social-political dynamics drive exposure and vulnerability accumulation.•Cascading disasters reveal the long-term vulnerability and exposure of systems.•Reinforcing mechanisms operating between and during events maintain path dependency.•Reconstructing Trajectories of Exposure and Vulnerability can support transformation.