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| International Disaster Database (EM-DAT) | |
|---|---|
| Name | EM-DAT |
| Formation | 1988 |
| Founder | Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters |
| Leader title | Coordinator |
| Parent organization | Université catholique de Louvain |
International Disaster Database (EM-DAT) is a comprehensive global database that compiles statistical data on natural and technological disasters to support risk assessment, humanitarian response, and disaster risk reduction. It aggregates historical and contemporary event-level records and is widely cited by international organizations, academic institutions, and national agencies. The database underpins analyses used by entities such as World Health Organization, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, World Bank, and regional bodies.
EM-DAT records standardized information on disasters including event classification, temporal and spatial extent, human impact, and economic losses, serving users in United Nations, European Commission, Asian Development Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank. The dataset interfaces with hazard atlases produced by United States Geological Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, European Space Agency, and links to population baselines from United Nations Population Fund and WorldPop. Published outputs from EM-DAT inform policy dialogues at forums such as World Humanitarian Summit, COP climate conferences, G7 summit, and UN General Assembly sessions.
EM-DAT was initiated in 1988 by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters at Université catholique de Louvain with technical collaboration from World Health Organization and funding interest from United Nations Development Programme and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Over time EM-DAT expanded through partnerships with Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters networks, collaboration with institutions like Harvard School of Public Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and alignment with standards set by International Organization for Standardization. Major expansions occurred following high-impact events such as the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, 2010 Haiti earthquake, and 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami which prompted methodological reviews and data-sharing agreements with agencies including FEMA, Japan Meteorological Agency, and NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.
EM-DAT classifies disasters into categories drawn from hazard taxonomies used by United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. Event inclusion criteria typically require thresholds related to reported deaths, affected population, declaration of state of emergency, or call for international assistance—thresholds comparable to those employed by World Bank loss accounting, European Environment Agency hazard reporting, and Asian Disaster Preparedness Center. Definitions for hazard types reference nomenclature from United States Geological Survey, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and World Meteorological Organization. Methodological documentation aligns with reporting guidance from World Health Organization emergency surveillance and standards from International Committee of the Red Cross in humanitarian assessment.
Primary sources for EM-DAT entries include international news agencies such as Agence France-Presse, BBC News, and Reuters, official reports from national agencies like China Meteorological Administration, India Meteorological Department, and United States Geological Survey, and situation reports from organizations including United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Médecins Sans Frontières, and Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Academic studies from Nature (journal), The Lancet, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences are used to validate historical events. Quality control practices involve cross-referencing with datasets from CRED (Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters), satellite-derived products from Copernicus Programme, and corroboration with records from International Monetary Fund loss estimates and United Nations Development Programme damage assessments.
EM-DAT organizes records by event identifier, date, country, disaster type, and impact metrics (deaths, injured, affected, economic loss), interoperable with coding schemes used by International Standard Industrial Classification and geospatial frameworks from Global Administrative Unit Layers. Data access is provided through query interfaces used by researchers at Harvard University, University of Oxford, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology and via APIs similar to services offered by World Bank Open Data and Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System. Export formats allow integration with analytical tools such as R (programming language), Python (programming language), and GIS platforms like ArcGIS and QGIS.
EM-DAT supports scholarly research published in outlets like Science (journal), Nature Climate Change, and The Lancet Planetary Health, and informs resilience planning by entities such as European Commission Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, United Nations Development Programme, and national ministries of health in Brazil, India, and Philippines. Actuarial firms and insurers including Munich Re and Swiss Re use EM-DAT for catastrophe modeling alongside outputs from Risk Management Solutions and AIR Worldwide. Humanitarian planners employ EM-DAT in needs assessments connected to Sphere Project standards and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction monitoring.
Critiques highlight underreporting biases in low-income contexts such as parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and remote regions like Papua New Guinea, inconsistencies in economic loss valuation compared to World Bank estimates, and temporal discontinuities for historical events noted in analyses by scholars at University College London and New York University. Methodological debates compare EM-DAT thresholds with alternative datasets like DesInventar and national catastrophe registries of Australia and Canada, and question harmonization with casualty recording frameworks promoted by International Committee of the Red Cross and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
EM-DAT is maintained by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters within Université catholique de Louvain with financial and technical support historically from World Health Organization, European Commission, Belgian Development Cooperation, and research grants from bodies including European Research Council and Wellcome Trust. Governance involves academic oversight committees and collaborative arrangements with partners such as United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, World Bank, and private sector stakeholders like reinsurers and consultancy firms.
Category:Disaster databases