EM-DAT, The International Disaster Database

Since 1988, EM-DAT is a global database on natural and technological disasters that contains essential core data on the occurrence and effects of more than 17,000 disasters in the world from 1900 to present.

EM-DAT includes geographical, temporal, human and economic information on disasters at the country level. Therefore it provides an objective basis for vulnerability assessment and rational decision-making in disaster situations. For example, it helps policymakers identify disaster types that are most common in a given country and have had significant historical impacts on specific human populations. In addition to providing information on the human impact of disasters, such as the number of people killed, injured or affected, EM-DAT provides disaster-related economic damage estimates and disaster-specific international aid contributions.

The EM-DAT data can be consulted through the database section of the website. The database section is composed of six dynamic search tools (country and disaster profiles, disaster list, advanced search, reference Maps, disaster Trends). All the online generated profiles, summary tables, trends and maps are directly downloadable. However, access to the raw data is only possible through a data request procedure.

EM-DAT is maintained by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) at the School of Public Health of the Université catholique de Louvain located in Brussels, Belgium.