EM-DAT

EM-DAT Aims and Attributes

The main goals of the EM-DAT product are decision support for disaster and crisis recovery, hazard mitigation, and as a means by which international aid contributions to disaster areas can be tracked and analyzed. This decision support requirement is met through systematic collection and analysis of disaster impacts on vulnerable populations across the globe. The EM-DAT has been a leader in creating best practices for disaster data collection, database standardization, validation, and analysis and has created a freely available and accessible Web portal from which disaster loss data can be culled. Specific to the EM-DAT is the differentiation between two generic disaster category types: natural and technological. Within the natural disaster category, users will find five subgroups: Geophysical (earth movements), Meteorological (precipitation events), Hydrological (flowing water), Climatological (temperature extremes, drought, and wildfire) and Biological (epidemics). These subgroups are further divided into 12 disaster types and 30 subtypes.

The CRED implements a stringent set of screening criteria beyond the use of classifications in its acceptance of an event into the EM-DAT database. Specifically, a disaster is included in the database only if it meets at least one of the following four criteria: (1) that 10 or more people were reported killed, (2) that 100 or more people were reported injured, (3) that the event resulted in a declared state of emergency, or (4) that the event resulted in a call for international assistance. A final layer of quality assurance/validation includes a triple verification check at the disaster type level (hurricane), the country level (each impacted country), and the source level (entity providing the data—United Nations, national government, nongovernmental organization [NGO], etc.). The resulting EM-DAT database reflects a systematic and consistent data collection and storage process containing accurate disaster impact information at the country level, including a unique disaster number for each disaster event; a country identifier; a disaster grouping, subgrouping, type, and subset; a disaster start and end date; the numbers of people killed, injured, and homeless; the number of people needing immediate assistance; and the estimated amount of damage (in U.S. dollars). Some cases also contain additional information such as detailed geographic information, magnitude and intensity information, international response status, the amount of aid contributions (in U.S. dollars), and information on specific sectors impacted.

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