Global Risk Identification Programme GRIP
Enhanced Loss data outcome area
Disaster Database Standards
Draft Proposal 1.0
Presented to the International Disaster Management Community
by
The Working Group on Disaster Data WGDD
Geneva, 2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1
General Presentation of the Standard and its process.............................................. 4
1.1
Background ....................................................................................................... 4
1.2
Why a Data Standard? ...................................................................................... 5
1.3
Target Audience: A standard for whom? .......................................................... 5
1.4
A Standard approach to the generation of Standards ........................................ 6
1.5
The Standard generation process ..................................................................... 7
1.6
Sections of this Standard .................................................................................. 8
1.6.1
Use cases .................................................................................................. 9
1.6.2
Terminology and Content standards: ......................................................... 9
1.6.3
Transaction compatibility ............................................................................ 9
1.6.4
Interoperability specifications ................................................................... 10
1.7
Existing efforts in this Area .............................................................................. 10
1.8
Reference Implementation of the Standard ..................................................... 11
Use cases ..................................................................................................................... 12
1.9
Generic query/description of a database ......................................................... 12
1.10 Query of Event Record (when an event occurred) .......................................... 13
1.11 Query of subset of Records ............................................................................. 13
1.12 Query of statistics of Records.......................................................................... 13
2 Terminology and Content standards....................................................................... 14
2.1
Basic concept definitions ................................................................................. 14
2.2
Disaster Classification .................................................................................... 17
2.3
Event Type Definitions .................................................................................... 20
2.4
Effect definitions .............................................................................................. 25
2.4.1
Core Effects ............................................................................................. 25
2.4.2
Comprehensive Indicators........................................................................ 26
3 Transaction compatibility ........................................................................................ 28
3.1
Identification of Disasters ................................................................................ 28
3.2
Event type codes............................................................................................. 28
3.3
Effect Codes ................................................................................................... 29
3.4
Declaration of other effects (Extended). .......................................................... 30
3.5
Geographical codes ........................................................................................ 30
3.5.1
Country Codes: ........................................................................................ 30
3.5.2
Lower Level Administrative codes ............................................................ 31
3.6
Time Stamp..................................................................................................... 31
3.7
Source of Information ...................................................................................... 31
3.8
General Database Descriptor .......................................................................... 31
4 Interoperability specifications for WDDS................................................................. 34
4.1
Scope.............................................................................................................. 34
4.2
Conformance .................................................................................................. 34
4.2.1
Conformance classes and requirements .................................................. 34
4.2.2
Basic WDDS ............................................................................................ 34
4.2.3
Statistical Queryable WDDS .................................................................... 34
4.3
Basic service elements.................................................................................... 34
4.3.1
Version numbering and negotiation .......................................................... 34
1.1. General HTTP request rules ........................................................................... 36
4.3.2
Introduction .............................................................................................. 36
4.3.3
HTTP GET ............................................................................................... 37
4.3.4
HTTP POST ............................................................................................. 37
4.4
General HTTP response rules ......................................................................... 38
4.4.1
Numeric and Boolean values ................................................................... 38
4.5
Output formats ................................................................................................ 39
4.6
Common request parameters .......................................................................... 39
4.7
Web Disaster Data Service operations ............................................................ 40
4.7.1
Introduction .............................................................................................. 40
4.7.2
GetCapabilities (mandatory) ..................................................................... 40
4.7.3
GetDescriptor (mandatory) ....................................................................... 41
4.7.4
GetDisasterRecord (mandatory)............................................................... 42
4.7.5
GetDisasterRecordSet (mandatory) ......................................................... 43
BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 47
5 APPENDIX A ......................................................................................................... 49
5.1
Hazard/Event definitions ................................................................................. 49
5.1.1
Comparison Table between WG’s disaster databases ............................. 50
5.1.2
Event types: GLIDEnumber Database Definitions ................................... 60
5.1.3
Event types: DesInventar Database Definitions ....................................... 63
5.2
Effect definitions .............................................................................................. 66
5.2.1
Human and economic Impact: EM-DAT Database Definitions .................. 66
5.2.2
Human and economic Impact: DesInventar Database Definitions ........... 67
1 General Presentation of the Standard and its process
1.1 Background
Risk identification is one of five priority areas in the Hyogo Framework for Action, a
principal vehicle for international cooperation on disaster reduction. One of the key
activities that comprise risk identification is the systematic collection of an evidence base
on disaster-related losses in the form of Disaster databases.
Historical loss data collection is necessary not only for risk assessment but also for
measuring progress towards achieving the expected outcome of the Hyogo Framework
of Action - the substantial reduction of disaster losses.
In order to provide governments, researchers, academicians and in general the
international community the opportunity to use and leverage existing indicators about
historical loss data in different regions of the world, the Global Risk Identification
programme has promoted the idea of producing a series of recommendations in the form
of Disaster Database Standards.
Some remarks are very important in the definition of what a standard is and what the
role it will play is:
-
-
A standard is a bridge between the semantics of a knowledge domain and the
various syntactic implementations of its data.
A standard is not necessarily propose to oblige everyone to do or think the same
thing, but to provide a means for mutual understanding and to have the ability to
share and efficiently communicate information.
The standard must be as neutral as possible, not implying how to use the data or
what are the applications but just how to understand it.
The standard to be developed aims only at so called ‘Natural’ Disaster Data, but
may also be applied for technological disasters.
The Expert Group team is aware of the challenges behind this topic but there is the
belief that such recommendations and standards could be applied in a broad range of
situations and adopted and/or used by teams already building disaster databases.
Once the Standards are finalized the GRIP would produce corresponding training
material and guidelines. This activity will produce as a result an improved set of
academic materials intended to provide newcomers to the IM systems and tools with
appropriate training in using and adopting these standards. The goal is to leverage the
existing materials when available and produce new ones as required.
The final stage of the Standards activity is the dissemination of the standards so that
the international community can take advantage of them and efforts to interoperate
between emergency management and disaster related data may be deployed with
capabilities to communicate with other systems.
In particular the National Disaster Observatories and the GRIP/CRED Disaster Data
Portal will implement and make use of these standards in order to provide means to
provide a proof of concept test the validity of the standard and eventually identify
potential refines. This initial implementation will be used for consolidating and
aggregating disaster impact data across multiple countries and continents.
The final goal of all these activities is a better global understanding of the impact of
natural disasters in the world. Other related activities, such as the study of the effects of
Climate Change, Global Warming, El Niño and other phenomena will also be able to
take advantage of these standards. Global databases such as EMDAT and even
commercially driven datasets as MunichRE, SwissRe, etc will also benefit potentially of
these standards.
1.2 Why a Data Standard?
The following reasons have been identified by the WG members:
-
-
-
-
-
-
To permit the comparability of data from different sources that comply with the
standard (the problem of comparing apples to apples) that will lead to improving
and easing analysis.
To allow the integration of multiple sources of data about disasters. This
integration may be horizontal (integrate data from different geographic areas, or
from different events, of different times, of different themes, or in general from
different dimensions of the disaster data) and also to allow vertical integration, or
aggregation process from lower levels of geography (municipal to provincial to
national to global, for example) of up a hierarchical tree of events (floods, etc to
atmospheric, to natural, etc.)
To permit computer systems to exchange information about disasters by
providing sets of standard codes to allow this exchange (to speak a common
language)
In general to establish mechanisms for disaster data based computer systems to
interoperate between then, or in other words to specify the protocols by which
computer systems will interact and will speak the common language referred to
in the previous point.
To increase the accessibility of information allowing better information flow,
language (English, Spanish, etc.) independent data, and platform neutral
protocols and formats.
Other data characteristics could also be improved: usability, compatibility,
analyzability, credibility, consistency, homogeneity, etc.
1.3 Target Audience: A standard for whom?
The target audience (or better, the users) of this standard is in general the global
community of Disaster Management; in particular:
-
The owners of Disaster Databases (data providers), which already have
databases or especially those who are starting new ones.
Software developers who are working of disaster-related information systems
Emergency Management agencies
Disaster Management, Disaster Risk Reduction and/or Planning institutions
Scientific community studying disasters and related areas such as climate
change
Decision makers and policy makers from national and sub national governments
The private sector especially that related to disasters and risk, such as the
insurance and re-insurance companies, financial institutions, etc.
The standard should help these people in their work, helping with the data collection,
integration and information exchange.
1.4 A Standard approach to the generation of Standards
This document is firstly presenting here a process similar to the one by which other
organizations have produced well accepted and successful data standards. For this
effect the working group has looked into the ISO and ANSI procedures for setting
standards and for standards issued by these Standard Development Organizations
(SDO) that may help the WG to produce a successful data standard.
In particular the process that is depicted below is the working process by which the
North American Health sector has implemented a broad set of standards within the
ANSI, American National Standards Institute and the HITSP, Healthcare Information
Technology Standards Panel.
The reader must acknowledge that the scope and complexity of Information
Management in the Health sector is much higher than in the area of Disaster loss data
as it has to deal with many entities (patients, illnesses, symptoms, drugs, lab tests,
procedures, surveillance, etc.) each of which in itself is extremely complex. On top of
these, the health sector also has to face privacy, accountability and vital/critical systems
management which make the problem even bigger.
However the success achieved in the sector is inspiring and the general process
followed should be a beacon to guide a rather simpler process in the area of Disasters.
An overview of the HITSP Interoperability Specification Process Overview can be found
at:
http://publicaa.ansi.org/sites/apdl/Documents/Standards%20Activities/Healthcare%20Inf
ormatics%20Technology%20Standards%20Panel/Interoperability%20Specification/Refe
rence%20Documents/HITSP%20Interoperability%20Specification%20Overview.pdf
The American Health Information Community, as the representative of public and private
health sector stakeholders, identifies Use Cases that drive the efforts of the HITSP.
Nationwide public and private health sector priorities also continue to focus the efforts of
the HITSP.
The Use Case driven HITSP harmonization process is implemented by formally
chartered Technical Committees. The volunteers that comprise a Technical Committee
followed an 8 step process, depicted below.
Figure 1.0 HITSP Harmonization Process Steps
The Interoperability Specification defines how two or more systems exchange standard
data content in a standardized manner
Interoperability Specifications define the necessary business and technical actors, the
transactions between them including the content and terminology standards for the
actual information exchange.
Interoperability Specifications do not specify the functional requirements or behaviours of
the systems or applications.
Each Interoperability Specification (IS) is actually a suite of documents that, taken as a
whole, provide a detailed map to existing standards and specifications that will satisfy
the requirements imposed by a given Use Case. It identifies and constrains standards
where necessary, and creates groupings of specific actions and actors to further
describe the relevant contexts. Where gaps and overlaps are identified, the
Interoperability Specification provides recommendations and a roadmap for resolution.
The reader will find that the “chartered Technical Committees” in the HITSP will be
basically composed in the Disaster Data Standards case, by the Working Group of
Experts. The WG will be in charge of proposing the use cases that will drive the
standards process and later on work on the Standard components, especially the
content, the terminology standards and finally the transactions that may happen between
multiple database systems.
1.5
The Standard generation process
The Standards Generation will be driven by the Working Group of Experts, which is a
multi-stakeholder coordinating body designed to provide the process within which
affected parties can identify, select, and harmonize standards for communicating
disaster information throughout the disaster, risk reduction, climate change and
emergency management spectrums.
As used here, the term “standard” refers, but is not limited to Specifications,
Implementation Guides, Code Sets, Terminologies (Glossaries), and other documents
that may be identified as required by the WG which will contain the above mentioned
standards.
A standard should be produced through a well defined approach that supports a
business process and
1.
2.
3.
4.
has been agreed upon by a group of experts
has been publicly examined
provides rules, guidelines, or characteristics
helps to ensure that materials, products, processes, and services are fit for their
intended purpose
5. is available in an accessible format
6. is subject to an ongoing review and revision process
The WG will function as a partnership of the public and private sectors and will operate
with a neutral and inclusive governance model administered by the GRIP project. It is
expected
In addition to the initial generation of the Standard, the WG will facilitate the continuous
long term development of the harmonized interoperability specifications and information
policies, including work products (e.g., new standards, technical reports, etc.).
These standards, policies and other work products are essential for establishing
accountability, transparency, appropriate crediting and interoperability among disaster
data and emergency management software applications.
The Standards and Interoperability Specifications that will be produced will not be
intended to define or prescribe any system architecture or implementation. At the most
basic level, the Interoperability Specifications define specific information exchange
standards that are to be used by any two systems.
To achieve these goals the WG will:



Coordinate, as appropriate, with other national, regional and international groups
addressing disaster information to ensure that the resulting standards are
globally relevant
Be use-case driven, using information from stakeholders and basing decisions on
the community needs
Implement a continuous process to monitor, improve, receive suggestions and
keep the standards up to date with arising community needs.
1.6 Sections of this Standard
In collaboration with experts from the work group the GRIP team has produces produce
this Disaster Data standards proposal which aims at facilitating the processes of
exchanging, comparing, collating, consolidating and analyzing data regarding the effects
and impact of disasters, and giving the international community a starting point for
discussion which will enrich, assure correctness an encourage the adoption of the
standard.
These Data Standards contain the following sections:
o Use cases
o Terminology and Content standards
o Transaction compatibility
o Interoperability specifications
While not strictly speaking required (or possibly not even convenient in the opinion of
some) the standard may in the future contain also a set of Recommendations for Quality
Control, usage and analysis of data targeted to the database owners, software
developers and other users of the standard.
1.6.1 Use cases
The Standard will be driven by a few Uses Cases. The following is the initial set to be put
to consideration of the community:
-
Generic query/description of a database
Query for Event Record (when an event occurred)
Query of subset of records based on geography, event type and time span
Query of statistics of events based on geography, event type and time span.
1.6.2 Terminology and Content standards:
This section of the standard provides a reference glossary with definitions of concept,
mandatory identification (dimensions) fields, definition of the meaning of impact
variables, etc.
o
o
o
o
o
o
Generic concepts (Event, Disaster, Impact, damage, loss, etc.)
Definitions of Event Types
Definition of Event Classification/Grouping
Definition of mandatory meta-information (event type, timestamp info,
geo-reference)
Definition for impact variables, which represent the effects; these are
usually numerical fields (but can also be text fields) with the impact or
damage to people, properties, infrastructure, etc.
Other important information such as source of data, approval, other
sources reviewed, date of entry, operator, etc)
1.6.3 Transaction compatibility
Basic standard mechanisms for the unique identification of disasters (such as the
GLIDE), for Geographical Codes (such as ISO codes for countries, P-Codes, etc.) and
other potential codes which will allow the consolidation, search of specific events among
different systems.
This section of the standard proposes sets of standard codes (such as codes for events,
GLIDE, geographic codes, etc) that will allow computer systems to exchange, integrate,
compare and in general interoperate disaster data:
o
o
o
o
o
o
Event codes
Date formats
Identification standards (GLIDE, etc)
Geographic codes
Codes, format and units for effects, sources, causes, etc.
Other identified
1.6.4 Interoperability specifications
This section of the standard deals with standard generic formats for information
exchange and especially the definition of protocols by which computer (or better,
automated systems) can communicate and exchange information making possible the
physical implementations of the use cases that will drive the standards.
This component establishes the rules, protocols and standards for the automated
exchange and interoperability of disaster data systems (initially as HTTP Requests, but
later it could also include XML, SOAP, Web Services, etc).
The interoperability specification section will be strongly based on the previous sections
of the Standard and will contain among other:
o
o
o
Generic format to fully describe a disaster database or source of
information, an XML DOM.
A protocol or set of protocols by which computers will communicate and
exchange information.
A set of specific requests that an automated disaster data source should
implement
1.7 Existing efforts in this Area
Taking advantage of previous efforts made to standardize concepts, classifications and
definitions for Disaster Databases will shorten the effort, on one hand, and will help in
obtaining better consensus on specific standards.
The following existing efforts that comprise existing bodies of definitions and
classifications are being taken advantage of:



The classification of Hazards made by the core expert group in the Munich 2007
meeting.
The definitions for events used by CRED, GLIDE, MunichRE and LA RED
(DesInventar) methodologies
The definitions for effects of the CRED , MunichRE and LA RED (DesInventar)
methodologies


The software specifications of existing disaster data applications, in particular
DesInventar and GLIDE
Other that the group may propose.
1.8 Reference Implementation of the Standard
The following systems implement as proof of concept this standard:
Server Side (i.e. producer of Disaster Data):
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DesInventar 7.x (Java/JSP open source, downloadable)
http://www.desinventar.net
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DesInventar 8.x (PHP ...?)
http://online.desinventar.org
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GLIDE (Java/JSP)
http://www.glidenumber.net
Client Side:
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CRED/GRIP Disaster Data Portal
http://www.gripweb.org
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Downloadable open source Test implementation in Java/JSP
http://www.desinventar.net/wdds
Use cases
As stated previously the Standard will be driven by a few Uses Cases. The following is
the initial set to be put to consideration of the community.
1.9 Generic query/description of a database
The first use case represents the case in which a user obtains a disaster data set (for
example by downloading or in a CD, or in an automated communication between two
systems as will be explained in the Interoperability Specification later in this Standard)
and he/she requires a formal description of the data been obtained.
This user may be interested in using this information for different purposes ranging from
simple analysis of its information to its integration or consolidation with other data
sources or comparison with another similar dataset (See the section “Why a Data
Standard?”).
This document proposes the use of Metadata set which will contain information about:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Name of database
Description of the content (text)
Internal format (i.e. Excel, XML, MS Access, etc.)
Institution that generated the database
Copyright notice.
Language of the information
Level of Observation and Geographical Resolution (scale)
Geographical Coverage (country, region, etc.)
Event type coverage (list of types)
Effect variables considered
Temporal Coverage
Type of disaster event identifier
Number of records
Link to website if available
Link to Institution if available
Links to or Document with Definitions, Methodologies
Links to Analysis documents produced by users/creators available to public.
The metadata specification should be available at least in two formats, a ‘human
readable’ format, such as a PDF document with titles for each bullet point, and a
‘machine’ readable format, in the form of an XML document.
The general for of this descriptor can be found in the Interoperability section of this
standard.
The schema definition can be downloaded from:
http://www.gripweb.org/dds/ddsdescriptor.xsd
The general format can be downloaded from:
http://www.gripweb.org/dds/ddsdescriptor.xsd
A sample of this descriptor (proof of concept) in both PDF (”Human readable”) form or
XML format for some DesInventar databases can be downloaded from:
http://www.desinventar.net/download
1.10 Query of Event Record (when an event occurred)
The second Use Case that this standard will target is when a user is interested in
obtaining information about a particular event.
This Use Case has three possible sub-flows, one when a GLIDE number for the event
exists, another when a non-standard identifier exists for a record and a third when an
event is to be located based on date, event type and geographical location.
1.11 Query of subset of Records
The third Use Case that this standard will target is when a user is interested in obtaining
information of subset of records; the subset is defined based on geography, event types
and time span
1.12 Query of statistics of Records
The last Use Case that this standard will target is when a user is interested in obtaining
aggregated information from a subset of records; the subset is defined based on
geography, event types and time span
2 Terminology and Content standards
2.1 Basic concept definitions
There are many definitions of the term Disaster in the existing literature. This Standards
document does not attempt to provide a new definition of disaster but rather present a
definition that suits the needs of those who are collecting and organizing data about the
impact in society of disasters at all scales.
Some examples of different definitions of “Disaster” are as follows:
ISDR definition of “Disaster”:
A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread
human, material, economic or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the
affected community or society to cope using its own resources.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition, defines it
as:
disaster (dî-zàs´ter, -sàs´-) noun
1.a. An occurrence causing widespread destruction and distress; a catastrophe. b. A
grave misfortune.
2.Informal. A total failure: The dinner party was a disaster.
3.Obsolete. An evil influence of a star or planet.
[French désastre, from Italian disastro : dis-, pejorative pref. (from Latin dis-). See disastro, star (from Latin astrum, from Greek astron).]
The popular Wikipedia site defines disaster simply as:
A disaster is the impact of a natural or man-made hazard that negatively affects society
or environment.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster )
For the effects of this Standard the following definitions are adopted:
“Disaster Event”
DISASTER EVENT is defined here as a phenomenon, whether natural or not, which
causes a disruption of the functioning of a community or a society OR adverse effects on
human lives, health and/or social, environmental, material or economic infrastructure.
This is slightly different to other traditional definitions of disaster, such as the previously
stated from ISDR.
This definition does NOT include the following concepts which exist in many other
definitions of the word “Disaster”:


Conditions like “widespread”, “the ability of a community to cope with the effects”
or “a call to international help” are imposed in order to something be considered
a disaster
Thresholds on the amount of damages are imposed (for example “20 or more
people killed” or “more than 1000 affected”)
Disaster Events, however, MUST have some sort of adverse effect in order to be
considered a disaster (for example, casualties, or damages to agriculture, infrastructure,
etc.). If there are no adverse effects then it is not a disaster.
“Disaster Record”:
Disaster record is defined as an information unit describing the set of adverse effects
caused by a disaster event on human lives and social, economic or environmental
infrastructure within a certain geographical unit.
THROUGHOUT THIS DOCUMENT A DISASTER EVENT WILL BE REFERENCED
SIMPLY AS AN EVENT, AND A DISASTER RECORD WILL BE REFRENCED AS A
DISASTER.
Please note that restricting the disaster to a certain geographic unit has traditionally
been done even by global observers, where the effects are usually disaggregated by
country. During the past years there has been a large increase in National level
observers, and the appearance of even more detailed (such as Urban) observers, which
are capturing the effects of disasters at much more detailed scales. The Geographic
units at which these observers geo-reference their information range from simple points
to multiple levels of administrative divisions within countries or cities.
It should be noted also that it is possible to reconstruct the total effects of a Disaster
Event that affected multiple geographic units by adding up its components, but it is not
necessarily possible, or trivial, to divide the aggregated effects of an event into its
geographical unit components.
These statements may seem “commonplace” and obvious, but practice has proved that
disaggregate inventories of disasters are not made because, among other things, the
creation of entities devoted to the attention of emergencies has prevailed over the
creation of entities devoted to prevent emergencies. These agencies are usually
interested in the aggregate of the effects as an input to operational plans, budgeting, etc.
The advantages of keeping disaggregated records of inventories are various and
obvious but are outside of the scope of the current Standard. However, it is important to
clarify some points:


Talking about phenomena or events in this Standard Proposal is quite different
from talking about Disaster Records. A Disaster Event may have to be described
using as many disaster records as there are geographical units affected by the
Event.
Another important advantage of this definition is that disasters defined in this way
can be correlated with more than one ‘event’ or ‘phenomena’. For example a
landslide that occurs triggered by an earthquake after long periods of rain can be
difficult to classify as one of the three ‘events’ of phenomena (landslide, rain,
earthquake), but the damages caused are absolute and distinct.
This Standard proposes the Disaster Record is the set of damages, which can be
associated by several means to different phenomena and/or events. Furthermore, a
disaster MUST be associated to at least one event or phenomena.
2.2 Disaster Classification
The classification of Disasters that is presented in this section is a tool intended to
facilitate the exchange, integration and comparability of information among disaster
databases. Following the same philosophy of the definition of “Disaster” previously
discusses, the proposed classification does NOT attempt to establish ‘the truth’, but to
give those interested in disaster databases a tool to allow interoperability.
The Standards Working Group is aware of the challenges, limitations and theoretical and
conceptual problems in the associated knowledge domains that come with this attempt.
Examples of this challenges are chains of events (disasters that are caused by the
concurrency of multiple hazards), causality (disasters that are caused by other
disasters), secondary effects and many other.
Depending on their knowledge domain, many other visions of this same problem exist,
and other forms of classification are suitable. Just classifying a disaster as “Natural” or
not is a whole discussion that is definitely out of the realm of the standard. The
classification of being “natural” or not responds, on one hand, to a more or less intuitive
concept, and on the other hand to the practical need to group the events in a hierarchy.
Again, this classification is to be seen as a tool that should facilitate the exchange of
information about disasters and their effects on society and environment. In particular
the classifications attempts to propose how databases with more detailed sets of events
may establish equivalences between their data and simpler sets. For example, a system
that collects information on generic Landslides would be able to accept information on
Mudslides, Lahars, Rock falls, etc.
Level1
Level2
Level3
Level4
Level5
Disaster Type
Disaster Sub-type
Disaster Sub Sub Type
Earthquake (seismic
activity)
Earthquake (ground shaking)
Tsunami
Volcano
Volcanic eruption
Mass Movement Dry
Rockfall
Landslide
Geophysical
Mudslide
Debris flow
Lahar
Avalanche
Snow avalanche
Debris avalanche
Natural
Subsidence
Sudden subsidence
Long-lasting subsidence
Meteoro-,
Storm
Tropical cyclone
Extratropical cyclone (winter
storm)
Local storm
Severe storm
Thunderstorm
Hailstorm
Tornado
Sandstorm/dust storm
Snowstorm/blizzard
Orographic storm
Flood
General flood
Glacier lake outburst flood
Flash flood
Storm surge/coastal flood
Mass Movement Wet
Rockfall
Landslide
Mudslide
Debris flow
Hydro-,
Lahar
Avalanche
Snow avalanche
Debris avalanche
Subsidence
Sudden subsidence
Long-lasting subsidence
Extreme temperature
Heat wave
Cold wave
Frost
Extreme winter conditions
Snow pressure
Icing
Freezing rain
Climatological
Drought
Drought
Wildfire
Forest fire
Bush/brush fire
Scrub/grassland fire
Urban fire
Epidemic
Viral Infectious Diseases
Bacterial Infectious Diseases
Parasitic Infectious Diseases
Fungal Infectious Diseases
Biological
Prion Infectious Diesases
Insect infestation
Grasshopper
Locust
Animal attack
Extra Terrestrial
Meteorite/asteroid impact
Industrial accident
Chemical spill
Collapse
Explosion
Fire
Gas leak
Poisoning
Radiation
Other
Technological
Disasters
Miscellaneous accident
Collapse
Explosion
Technological Disasters
Fire
Other
Transport accident
Air
Rail
Road
Water
2.3 Event Type Definitions
Group: natural, Subgroup: Geophysical, Event type: Earthquake
Shaking, trembling or displacement of the earth surface due to seismic waves or other
phenomena of volcanic or tectonic origin.
Group: natural, Subgroup: Geophysical, Event type: Volcanic eruption
All activity associated with volcanic eruptions such as emission of gas and ashes, stone
falls (pyroclast), flows of lava, etc.
Group: natural, Subgroup: Geophysical, Event type: Tsunami
Waves generated by submarine earth movements, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or
landslides.
Group: natural, Subgroup: Geophysical or Climatological/Hydrological, Event
type: Mass Movement
All geological phenomena including a wide range of mass (soil, mud, snow, ice or rock)
movements under the influence of gravity. Depending on the triggering factor if can be
classified as geophysical (when pure gravity or a seismic event cause the event) or
Climatological/Hydrological when it is caused by anomalies in precipitation.
Subtypes: Landslide, Avalanche, Subsidence, Rock fall.
Landslide: Any kind of soil movement on a slope under the influence of gravity. Inlcudes
mudslides, lahars and debris flows.
Subtypes: Mudslide, Lahar, Debris Flow
Mudslide: A type of landslide, which occurs when the slope is saturated with
water. This more destructive flow can pick up rocks, trees, houses and cars. As
the debris moves into river and stream beds, bridges can become blocked or
even collapse, making a temporary dam that can flood neighbouring areas.
Lahar: A type of mudflow / landslide composed of pyroclastic material and water
that flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. The term 'lahar'
originated in the Javanese language of Indonesia.
Debris Flow: A debris flow is a fast moving mass of unconsolidated, saturated
debris that looks like flowing concrete. They differentiate from a mudflow by
terms of the viscosity of the flow. Flows can carry clasts ranging in size from clay
particles to boulders, and also often contains a large amount of woody debris.
Flows can be triggered by large amounts of rainfall, or glacial melt, or a
combination of the two. Speed of debris flows can vary from 1mph to 35mph in
extreme conditions.
Subsidence: Subsidence is the motion of the Earth's surface as it shifts downward
relative to a datum (e.g. the sea level). Subsidence (dry) can be the result of: geological
faulting, isostatic rebound, human impact (e.g. mining, extraction of natural gas) etc.
Subsidence (wet) can be the result of: karst, changes in soil water saturation, permafrost
degradation (thermokarst) etc.
Rock fall: refers to quantities of rock or stone falling freely down a slope. It is caused by
undercutting, weathering or permafrost degradation, or geological activities such as
earthquakes.
Group: natural, Subgroup: Geophysical, Event type: Avalanche
Mass of snow or ice that slides down a mountainside under the force of gravity. It occurs
if the load on the upper snow layers exceeds the bonding forces of the entire mass of
snow. It often gathers material that is underneath the snowpack like soil, rock etc (debris
avalanche). Depending on the triggering factor if can be classified as geophysical (when
pure gravity or a seismic event cause the event) or Climatological when it is caused by
excess snow or rain precipitation.
Group: natural, Subgroup: Climatological, Event type: STORMS
A storm is any disturbed state of the atmosphere, and strongly implying severe weather.
It may be marked by strong wind, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), heavy
precipitation, such as ice (ice storm), or wind transporting some substance through the
atmosphere (as in a dust storm, snowstorm, hailstorm, etc).
Tropical Cyclone
A cyclone is a non-frontal storm system that is characterized by a low pressure center,
spiral rain bands and strong winds. Usually it originates over tropical or subtropical
waters and rotates clockwise in the southern hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the
northern hemisphere. Cyclones receive different names as hurricanes, typhoons, tropical
depressions etc (names depending on location).
Note that Tropical depression, and Tropical Storms are considered part of this event
type
Extra-tropical Cyclone: also know as Winter storm, it is a synoptic scale low pressure
system that occurs in the middle latitudes of the Earth and is connected to fronts and
horizontal gradients in temperature and dew point. A winter storm comes along with high
wind speeds, gusts, thunderstorms, rain and often storm surges.
Group: natural, Subgroup: Climatological, Event type: Convective/Local Storm
A storm is any disturbed state of an astronomical body's atmosphere, especially
affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather. It may be marked by strong
wind, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), heavy precipitation, such as ice (ice
storm), or wind transporting some substance through the atmosphere (as in a dust
storm, snowstorm, hailstorm, etc).These events are caused by shortlived/small to
mesoscale atmospheric processes (in the spectrum from minutes to days)
Subtypes: Strong Wind, Hailstorm, Lightning/Thunderstorm, Rain, Ice storm, Snowstorm,
Sandstorm, Tornado, Orographic storm, Generic Storm
Strong Wind: Local windstorm refers to strong winds caused by regional atmospheric
phenomena, not associated to rain, etc.
Hailstorm: A hail storm is a type of storm that is characterised by hail as the dominant
part of its precipitation. The size of the hailstones can vary between pea size (6mm) and
softball size (112mm) and therefore cause considerable damage
Lightning/Thunderstorm: Lightning is an atmospheric discharge of electricity, which
typically occurs during thunderstorms. Thunderstorms, also called electrical storms or
lightning storms, are concentration of atmospheric discharges of electricity. For the
effects of this standard it is suggested that both phenomena are reported as
‘Lightning/Thunderstorm’
Heavy Rain:/Rain storm High level of rain pprecipitation. Includes punctual, persistent or
torrential rain, or rain exceeding the rainfall averages of a specific region; also, unusual
long rain periods. Rain includes terms such as downpour, cloudburst, heavy shower,
deluge, persistent drizzle, squalls, etc.
Ice storm: An ice storm is characterized by freezing rain. Ice storms happen when a
warm cloud rains above a layer of colder air. This lowers the temperature of the droplets
to below zero, however it remains in liquid form. The supercooled droplets freeze into ice
on impact when they fall onto a surface the temperature of which is close to, or below,
freezing.
Snowstorm: (winter storm, Blizzard) Storm with a high level of precipitation of snow that
may occur in combination with wind and possibly ice. If it's a severe snowstorm that
meets certain criteria, such as strong winds, blowing snow and low or falling
temperatures, it's called blizzard.
Sandstorm: A strong wind carrying clouds of sand and dust through the air.
Tornado: A violently rotating storm of small diameter; the most violent weather
phenomenon. It is produced in a very severe thunderstorm and appears as a funnel
cloud extending from the base of a Cumulonimbus to the ground. Typically it forms
during a severe convective storm in so-called supercells and is often visible as a funnelshaped cloud. Tornadoes are usually short-lived, lasting on average no more than 10
minutes. They can generate wind speeds above 400 km/h and are considered the most
destructive weather phenomenon. The intensity of tornadoes is assessed using the
Enhanced Fujita Scale. Other names for this weather phenomenon are twister,
waterspout.
Generic Storm: [alternate name: SEVERE WEATHER] Any storm where there is a
combination of phenomena with no predominant factor. Usually a combination of wind,
lightning and and some sort of precipitation.
Group: natural, Subgroup: Climatological, Event type: Flood
A flood is an overflow of a body of water (river, lake) that submerges land or the
abnormal accumulation of water on the surface due to excess rainfall and the rise of the
groundwater level above surface on impermeable or saturated terrains.
Subtypes: Coastal Floods/Surge, Flash flood, Alluvium, Glacier lake outburst
flood/Jökulhlaup, Urban flood
Coastal Floods/Surge: A storm surge is the rise of the water level in the sea, an
estuary or lake as result of strong wind driving the seawater towards the coast. This socalled wind setup is superimposed on the normal astronomical tide. The mean high
water level can be exceeded by five and more metres. The areas threatened by storm
surges are coastal lowlands.
Flash flood: Flooding that develops very quickly on streams and river tributaries with a
relatively high peak discharge. A flash flood describes sudden flooding with short
duration. In sloped terrain the water flows rapidly with a high destruction potential.
Alluvion: Torrential water flow dragging large amounts of solid material (pebbles,
stones, and rock blocks) common in dry regions or river beds produced by heavy
rain. Equivalent to the term “huaico” used in Peru.
Glacier lake outburst flood/Jökulhlaup: A glacier lake outburst flood occurs
when a lake – dammed by a glacier or a terminal moraine - fails. The outburst
can be triggered by erosion, a critical water pressure, a mass movement, an
earthquake or cryoseism. A jökulhlaup is a special type of a glacier lake outburst
flood related to the outburst of an ice-dammed lake during a volcanic eruption.
Urban flood: As its name indicates, it’s flooding of urban areas due to inadequate,
clogged or saturated drainage systems, usually associated with rains. It may also be part
of a riverine flood.
Group: natural, Subgroup: Climatological, Event type: Drought
A drought is an extended period of time characterised by a deficiency in a region's water
supply. It's a result of constantly below average precipitation and can lead to losses to
agriculture and famine.
Group: natural, Subgroup: Climatological, Event type: Extreme Temperature
Rise or Drop of atmospheric temperature above/below the averages of a region.
Subtypes: Heat Wave, Cold Wave, Frost, Extreme winter conditions.
Heat wave: A heat wave is a period of excessively hot and sometimes also humid
weather relative to normal climate patterns of a certain region.
Cold wave: A cold wave can be both a period of excessively cold weather below the
average and the sudden invasion of very cold air over an area.
Frost: Frost occurs when air reaches its dew point below the freezing point, enough to
cause freezing, with damaging effects especially on crops, but also in population,
properties and services
Extreme winter conditions: A winter storm is a combination of simultaneous events in
which the dominant varieties of precipitation are forms that only occur at cold
temperatures, such as snow or sleet, or a rainstorm where ground temperatures are cold
enough to allow ice to form (i.e. freezing rain).
Group: natural, Subgroup: Climatological, Event type: Fire
A storm is any disturbed state of an astronomical body's atmosphere, especially
Subtypes: Wild fire, Fire
Wild fire: Also denominated Forest Fire. An uncontrolled fire in a forest or bush area.
The event includes all open-air fires in rural areas, natural and artificial forests, plains,
etc.
Subtype Forest fire, Bush/brush, scrub/grassland.
Fire: A destructive burning (as of a building). Include in this category urban, industrial or
rural fires, but not including wild (forest) fires. Limited to those induced or highly
connected to natural phenomena, such as electrical storms, earthquakes, droughts, etc.
Group: natural, Subgroup: Biological, Event type: Epidemic
It can be either an unusual increase in the number of cases of an infectious disease,
which already exists in the region or population concerned; or the appearance of an
infection previously absent from a region.
Subtypes: …. Different types of epidemics (Cholera, Typhus, etc.)
Group: natural, Subgroup: Biological, Event type: Insect Infestation
Pervasive influx and development of insects of parasites affecting humans, animals,
crops and materials. Proliferation of insects or animal pests affecting communities,
agriculture, cattle or stored perishable goods.
Subtypes: …. Different types of insects, Locust, bees, etc.
Group: natural, Subgroup: Biological, Event type: Animal Stampede
An event in which a large number of animals *for example elephants or buffalos) run
over humans or villages causing damage and deaths.
Subtypes: …. Different types of animals (Elephant, etc.).
2.4 Effect definitions
This Standard proposes the information containing the effects of disaster divided in three
different sets:
a) Core indicators: this will be the most commonly used set of indicators. To be
compliant with this standard every database MUST have at least one of these
fields.
b) Comprehensive Group: this would be a larger set of indicators which have been
selected through a survey on many disaster databases.
c) Extended group: The standard proposes a mechanism that will allow an unlimited
number of indicators.
2.4.1 Core Effects
Killed: Corresponds to the number of people who died due to direct causes, whether
immediately or time after the disaster.
Missing: Number of persons whose whereabouts as from the effects of the disaster are
unknown. It includes people presumed dead without physical evidence. Data on dead
and missing persons are mutually exclusive.
Fatalities: Total Mortality = killed + missing
Injured: Corresponds to the number of persons with bodily injuries or which required
medical assistance. If the event is a plague or epidemic, the sick are included.
Homeless: People needing immediate assistance with shelter.
Relocated: People moved to live in another location, whether permanently or
temporarily.
Displaced: People permanently moved outside of the disaster area.
Evacuated: People temporarily moved outside of the disaster area.
Houses Destroyed: Number of houses considered inhabitable due to the disaster.
Houses Damaged: Number of houses which require reparation due to the disaster. It is
mutually exclusive with Houses Destroyed.
Description: Textual Description of losses
2.4.2 Comprehensive Indicators
Affected: People requiring immediate assistance during an emergency situation.
Victims: Number of persons whose individual or collective property and/or services have
suffered serious damage directly associated to the event.
Indirectly affected: Number of persons that suffered some form of loss of profits, whose
livelihoods were affected or lost access to markets or due to the disaster.
Total affected: Number of persons that were directly or indirectly affected in some way
due to the disaster.
Value of economic losses (IN USD, for the time of disaster / And or local currency)
**Total
**Direct
**Indirect
**Insured
**Reconstruction
Ha. Crops affected/destroyed
Number of Livestock animals lost.
Number of Schools affected/destroyed
Number of Health facilities affected/destroyed
Number of Religious buildings affected/destroyed
Number of Government buildings affected/destroyed
Number of KM of roads affected/destroyed
Magnitude of the event
Notes:
Total estimated damages (in 000'US$): A value of all damages and economic losses
directly or indirectly related to the disaster.
Reconstruction cost (in 000'US$): These costs (in 000'US$) are for the replacement of
lost assets. Reconstruction costs are different than total damages as they must take into
account present construction or purchase costs of goods, as well as the additional cost
of prevention and mitigation measures to reduce damage from future disasters.
Insured losses (in 000'US$): Economic damages which are covered by the insurance
industry.
3 Transaction compatibility
3.1 Identification of Disasters
Internal Identifier: Every Record must have a unique identifier internal to the database.
The format of this identifier is left to each database provider, but it must be representable
by an ASCII string of 30 or less characters.
External Identifier: This document proposes the use of an established and successful
standard The GLIDEnumber. Every record should have an external GLIDE number
identifier which could be used to associate this with other information about the same
disaster event in the same or other countries.
3.2 Event type codes
CODE
EQ
VO
TS
Disaster type
Earthquake
Volcano
Tsunami
LS
MS
RF
LH
SB
Land Slide
AV
CY
TC
EC
TD
SC
Avalanche
Cyclone
ST
VW
HS
TS
RN
IS
SN
SD
TO
Storm
FL
Flood
Disaster sub-type
Mud Slide
Rock Fall
Lahars
Subsidence
Tropical Cyclone
Extra-tropical Cyclone
Tropical Depression
Subtropical Cyclone
Wind Storm
Hail storm
Lightning/Thunderstorm
Rain
Ice Storm
Snow Storm
Sand storm
Tornadoes
RF
SS
FF
AL
GO
UF
Riverine flood
Storm Surge/Coastal flood
Flash Flood
Alluvion
Glacier lake outburst flood/Jökulhlaup
Urban flood
DR
Drought
ET
Extreme
Temperature
CW
HT
FT
Cold Wave
Heat Wave
Frost
FR
WF
Fire
Wild fire
BI
EP
IN
AN
Biological
CE
AC
Complex Emergency
Technological
Disaster
Epidemic
Insect Infestation
Animal Attack
3.3 Effect Codes
Group
Core
Comprehensive
Effect
Killed
Missing
Injured
Fatalities
Homeless
Relocated
Displaced
Evacuated
Houses Destroyed
Houses Damaged
Description
Affected
Victims
Indirectly affected
Total affected
Total Value of economic losses USD
Direct Value of economic losses USD
Indirect Value of economic losses USD
Insured Value of economic losses USD
Code
Killed
Missing
Injured
Fatalities
Homeless
Relocated
Displaced
Evacuated
Houses_Destroyed
Houses_Damaged
Description
Affected
Victims
Indirectly_affected
Total_affected
Total_Losses_USD
Direct_losses_USD
Indirect_losses_USD
Insured_losses_USD
Reconstruction Value of economic losses USD
Total Value of economic losses local currency
Direct Value of economic losses local currency
Indirect Value of economic losses local currency
Insured Value of economic losses local currency
Reconstruction Value of economic losses local
currency
No. Of Livestock lost
Ha. Crops affected
Number of Schools affected
Number of Health facilities affected
Number of Religious buildings affected
Number of Government buildings affected
Number of KM of roads affected
Ha. Crops destroyed
Number of Schools destroyed
Number of Health facilities destroyed
Number of Religious buildings destroyed
Number of Government buildings destroyed
Number of KM of roads destroyed
Magnitude of Event
Reconstruction_losses_USD
Total_Losses_local
Direct_losses_local
Indirect_losses_local
Insured_losses_local
Reconstruction_losses_local
Livestock
Crops_affected
Schools_affected
Health_facilities_affected
Religious_buildings_affected
Government_buildings_affected
KM_Roads_affected
Crops_destroyed
Schools_destroyed
Health_facilities_destroyed
Religious_buildings_destroyed
Government_buildings_destroyed
KM_Roads_destroyed
Event_Magnitude
3.4 Declaration of other effects (Extended).
The definition of Non Standard Events will require that the database provides, for each
effect, the following:
- effect_code: identifier of the effect. It must be unique within the database and not part
of the set of Core and Comprehensive effect codes. If must start with a letter (a-z)
followed by a string of letters (a-Z), digits (0..9) or underscore (_).
- effect_format: can be numeric or alpha.
- effect_name_english: Description of Effect English
- effect_name_local: Description of effect type name in local language.
This will be reflected in the database definition descriptor in an XML paragraph such as:
<effect_type>
<effect_code>effect type code</effect_code>
<effect_format>[numeric | alpha]</effect_format>
<effect_name_english>effect type name in English language</effect_name_english>
<effect_name_local>effect type name in local language</effect_name_local>
</effect_type>
3.5 Geographical codes
3.5.1 Country Codes:
This standard proposes the use of ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 specification for country codes.
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes are three-letter country codes in the ISO 3166-1 standard to
represent countries and dependent territories. They are published by the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) as part of its ISO 3166 standard. They were first
included as part of the ISO 3166 standard in its first edition in 1974.
See
http://www.iso.org/iso/country_codes/iso_3166_code_lists.htm
http://www.iso.org/iso/country_codes/updates_on_iso_3166.htm
3.5.2 Lower Level Administrative codes
As opposed to country codes there is no recognized and widely used standard for
Administrative units within countries. There are some proposal for standards, listed
below, but the experience of the authors reveal that each country usually imposes a
national standard coding scheme.
This standard proposes to adhere, when available to each country’s national statistics
standard, or the use one of the following if there is not a national standard in the country:
-
ISO 3166-2 (applies only to first administrative level )
FIPS States codes (first administrative level too)
If there is a UN P-Code system for the country
If there is another International Standard
Use an arbitrary but consistent fixed-length, hierarchical code
3.6 Time Stamp
The time descriptors will use the form:
YYYY-MM-DD [hh:mm:dd [TZ]]
ALL time stamps are referred to the local country time, further specified by the
optional TZ
3.7 Source of Information
Free text that should contact Name of source, name of Document (page) and date
3.8 General Database Descriptor
The general format of this descriptor is as follows:
<?xml version='1.0' encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- Disaster Database Metadata -->
<disaster_database xmlns="http://www.gripweb.org/wdds/wdds_d" version="1.0.0"
<name_of_database>Name<name_of_database>
<description>Description of the content (text) </description>
<format>
[Excel| XML | MS Access | CSV | Text | Oracle | MySql | Postgres | MSSQL |...]
</format>
<institution>Institution that generated the database</institution>
<copyright >Copyright notice. </copyright >
<observation>[Global | Continental | Regional | National | SubNational |
Urban]</observation>
<resolution>[Event | Country | Level1 | ... LevelN | Point]</resolution>
<languages>
<language>[ISO Code]</language>
<language>[ISO Code]</language>
</languages>
<events>
<standard_events>
<event_type>
<event_code>event type code</event_code>
<event_name_local>event type name in local
language</event_name_local>
</event_type>
...
<event_type>
...
</event_type>
</standard_events>
<non_standard_events>
<event_type>
<event_code>event type code</event_code>
<event_name_english>event type name in local
language</event_name_english>
<event_name_local>event type name in local
language</event_name_local>
</event_type>
...
<event_type>
...
</event_type>
</non_standard_events>
</events>
<effects>
<standard_effects>
<effect_type>
<effect_code>effect type code</effect_code>
<effect_name_local>effect type name in local
language</effect_name_local>
<effect_name_english>effect type name in local
language</effect_name_english>
</effect_type>
...
<effect_type>
...
</effect_type>
</standard_effects>
<non_standard_effects>
<effect_type>
<effect_code>effect type code</effect_code>
<effect_format>[numeric | alpha]</effect_format>
<effect_name_english>effect type name in
English</effect_name_english>
<effect_name_local>effect type name in local
language</effect_name_local>
<effect_description_english>effect type description in
English</effect_ description_english>
<effect_ description_local>effect type description in local
language</effect_ description_local>
</effect_type>
...
<effect_type>
...
</effect_type>
</non_standard_effects>
</effects>
<temporal_coverage>
<from>[start date]</from>
<to>[end date]</to>
</temporal_coverage>
<coverage>
<country>
<code>[ISO Code]</code>
<name_local>Country Name in local language </name_local>
<name_english>Country Name in English</name_english>
<level1>
<code>level1 unit code</code>
<name_local>level1 unit in local language </name_local>
<name_english> level1 Name in English</name_english>
<level2>
<code>level2 unit code</code>
<name_local>level2 unit in local language </name_local>
<name_english> level12 Name in English</name_english>
<level3>
....
<level3>
</level2>
...
<level2>
...
</level2>
</level1>
...
<level1>
...
</level1>
</country>
<country>
...
</country>
</coverage>
<records>###</records>
<website>http://Link to website if available</website>
<institutionsite>http://Link to institution website if available</institutionsite>
<documentation>
<document>
<type>[manual|methodology|analysis|misc]</type>
<title>Title of document</title>
<language>[ISO Code]</language>
<link>[http://Link to website if available| URI]</link>
</document>
...
<document>
/...
</document>
</documentation>
</disaster_database>
4 Interoperability specifications for WDDS
WDDS: Web Disaster Data Service
4.1 Scope
This International Standard specifies the behaviour of a service that produces Disaster
Data information dynamically from data stored in specific purpose databases. The
standard specifies operations to retrieve a description of the data offered by a server, to
retrieve one specific record, to retrieve a set of records defined by several characteristics
and to and to query a server about aggregates of this data.
4.2 Conformance
4.2.1 Conformance classes and requirements
This International Standard defines two conformance classes, one for a basic WDDS,
and the other for a statistical queryable WDDS.
Each has two subclasses, one for clients and the other for servers.
4.2.2 Basic WDDS
A basic WDDS shall support the basic service elements, the GetDescriptor operation,
the GetDisasterRecord operation and the GetDisasterRecordSet operation.
To conform to this International Standard, a basic WDDS shall satisfy the requirements
of A.1 of the Abstract Test Suite in Annex XXX.
4.2.3 Statistical Queryable WDDS
A statistical queryable WDDS shall satisfy all the requirements for a basic WDDS, and
shall also support the GetDisasterAggregate operation.
To conform to this International Standard, a statistically queryable WDDS shall satisfy all
requirements of the Abstract Test Suite in Annex XXX
4.3 Basic service elements
4.3.1 Version numbering and negotiation
Version number form and value: The Web Disaster Data Service defines a protocol
version number. The version number applies to the XML schema and the request
encodings defined in this International Standard. The version number contains three
nonnegative integers, separated by decimal points, in the form "x.y.z". The numbers "y"
and "z" shall not exceed 99. Implementations of this International Standard shall use the
value "1.0.0" as the protocol version number.
Version number changes
The protocol version number shall be changed with each revision of this International
Standard. The number shall increase monotonically and shall comprise no more than
three integers separated by decimal points, with the first integer being the most
significant. There may be gaps in the numerical sequence. Some numbers may denote
draft versions. Servers and their clients need not support all defined versions, but shall
obey the negotiation rules below.
Appearance in requests and in service metadata
The version number appears in at least two places: in the service metadata, and in the
parameter list of client requests to a server. The version number used in a client's
request of a particular server shall be equal to a version number which that instance has
declared it supports (except during negotiation as described below).
A server may support several versions, whose values clients may discover according to
the negotiation rules.
Version number negotiation
A WDDS client may negotiate with a server to determine a mutually agreeable protocol
version. Negotiation is performed using the GetDescriptor operation (described later)
according to the following rules.
All service metadata shall include a protocol version number and shall comply with the
XML DTD or Schema defined for that version. In response to a GetDescriptor request
(for which the VERSION parameter is optional) that does not specify a version number,
the server shall respond with the highest version it supports.
In response to a GetDescriptor request containing a version number that the server
implements, the server shall send that version. If the server does not support the
requested version, the server shall respond with output that conforms to a version it
does support, as determined by the following rules:
1) If a version unknown to the server and higher than the lowest supported version
is requested, the server shall send the highest version it supports that is less
than the requested version.
2) If a version lower than any of those known to the server is requested, then the
server shall send the lowest version it supports.
If the client does not support the version sent by the server, it may either cease
communicating with the server or send a new request with a different version
number that the client does support.
The process may be repeated until a mutually understood version is reached, or until the
client determines that it will not or cannot communicate with that particular server.
EXAMPLE 1
Server understands versions 1, 2, 4, 5 and 8. Client understands versions 1, 3, 4, 6, and
7. Client requests version 7. Server responds with version 5. Client requests version 4.
Server responds with version 4, which the client understands, and the negotiation ends
successfully.
EXAMPLE 2
Server understands versions 4, 5 and 8. Client understands version 3. Client requests
version 3. Server responds with version 4. Client does not understand that version or
any higher version, so negotiation fails and client ceases communication with that
server.
The VERSION parameter is mandatory in requests other than GetCapabilities.
1.1.
General HTTP request rules
4.3.2 Introduction
This International Standard defines the implementation of the Web Disaster Data
Service on a distributed computing platform (DCP) comprising Internet hosts that
support the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) (see IETF RFC 2616). Thus the Online
Resource of each operation supported by a server is an HTTP Uniform Resource
Locator (URL). The URL may be different for each operation, or the same, at the
discretion of the service provider. Each URL shall conform to the description in IETF
RFC 2616 (section 3.2.2 "HTTP URL") but is otherwise implementation-dependent; only
the query portion comprising the service request itself is defined by this International
Standard.
HTTP supports two request methods: GET and POST. One or both of these methods
may be offered by a server, and the use of the Online Resource URL differs in each
case. Support for the GET method is mandatory; support for the POST method is
optional.
Reserved characters in HTTP GET URLs
The URL specification (IETF RFC 2396) reserves particular characters as significant and
requires that these be escaped when they might conflict with their defined usage. This
International Standard explicitly reserves several of those characters for use in the query
portion of WDDS requests. When the characters '&', '=', ',' and '+' appear in one of the
roles defined in Table 1, they shall appear literally in the URL. When those characters
appear elsewhere (for example, in the value of a parameter), they shall be encoded as
defined in IETF RFC 2396.
The server shall be prepared to decode any character escaped in this manner, and to
decode the '+' character as a space.
Character
?
&
Reserved Usage
Separator indicating start of query string.
Separator between parameters in query string.
=
,
+
Separator between name and value of parameter.
Separator between individual values in list-oriented parameters (such as EVENT, LEVELx)
Shorthand representation for a space character.
4.3.3 HTTP GET
A Web Disaster Data Service shall support the "GET" method of the HTTP protocol
(IETF RFC 2616).
An Online Resource URL intended for HTTP GET requests is in fact only a URL prefix to
which additional parameters are appended in order to construct a valid Operation
request. A URL prefix is defined in accordance with IETF RFC 2396 as a string
including, in order, the scheme ("http" or "https"), Internet Protocol hostname or numeric
address, optional port number, path, mandatory question mark '?', and optional string
comprising one or more server-specific parameters ending in an ampersand '&'. The
prefix defines the network address to which request messages are to be sent for a
particular operation on a particular server.
Each operation may have a different prefix. Each prefix is entirely at the discretion of the
service provider. This International Standard defines how to construct a query part that is
appended to the URL prefix in order to form a complete request message. Every WDDS
operation has several mandatory or optional request parameters. Each parameter has a
defined name. Each parameter may have one or more legal values, which are either
defined by this International Standard or are selected by the client based on service
metadata.
To formulate the query part of the URL, a client shall append the mandatory request
parameters, and any desired optional parameters, as name/value pairs in the form
"name=value&" (parameter name, equals sign, parameter value, ampersand). The '&' is
a separator between name/value pairs, and is therefore optional after the last pair in the
request string.
When the HTTP GET method is used, the client-constructed query part is appended to
the URL prefix defined by the server, and the resulting complete URL is invoked as
defined by HTTP (IETF RFC 2616).
4.3.4 HTTP POST
A Web Disaster Data Service may support the "POST" method of the HTTP protocol
(IETF RFC 2616).
An Online Resource URL intended for HTTP POST requests is a complete URL (not
merely a prefix as in the HTTP GET case) that is valid according to IETF RFC 2396 to
which clients transmit request parameters in the body of the POST message. A WDDS
shall not require additional parameters to be appended to the URL in order to construct a
valid target for the operation request.
4.4 General HTTP response rules
Upon receiving a valid request, the service shall send a response corresponding exactly
to the request as detailed in Clause 7 of this International Standard, or send a service
exception if unable to respond correctly.
Only in the case of Version Negotiation may the server offer a differing result. Upon
receiving an invalid request, the service shall issue a service exception as described in
the corresponding section.
A server may send an HTTP Redirect message (using HTTP response codes as defined
in IETF RFC 2616) to an absolute URL that is different from the valid request URL that
was sent by the client. HTTP Redirect causes the client to issue a new HTTP request for
the new URL. Several redirects could in theory occur.
Practically speaking, the redirect sequence ends when the server responds with a
WDDS response. The final response shall be a WDDS response that corresponds
exactly to the original request (or a service exception). Response objects shall be
accompanied by the appropriate Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) type
(IETF RFC 2045) for that object. A list of MIME types in common use on the internet is
maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Allowable types for
operation responses and service exceptions are discussed below. The basic structure of
a MIME type is a string of the form "type/subtype".
MIME allows additional parameters in a string of the form "type/subtype;
param1=value1; param2=value2". A server may include parameterized MIME types in its
list of supported output formats. In addition to any parameterized variants, the server
should offer the basic unparameterized version of the format.
Response objects should be accompanied by other HTTP entity headers as appropriate
and to the extent possible. In particular, the Expires and Last-Modified headers provide
important information for caching; Content-Length may be used by clients to know when
data transmission is complete and to efficiently allocate space for results, and ContentEncoding or Content-Transfer-Encoding may be necessary for proper interpretation of
the results.
4.4.1 Numeric and Boolean values
Integer numbers shall be represented in a manner consistent with the specification for
integers in XML Schema Datatypes. This International Standard shall explicitly indicate
where an integer value is mandatory.
Real numbers shall be represented in a manner consistent with the specification for
double-precision numbers in XML Schema Datatypes. This representation allows for
integer, decimal and exponential notations. A real value is allowed in all numeric fields
defined by this International Standard unless the value
is explicitly restricted to integer.
Positive, negative and zero values are allowed unless explicitly restricted.
Boolean values shall be represented in a manner consistent with the specification for
boolean in XML Schema Datatypes. The values '0' and 'false' are equivalent. The values
'1' and 'true' are equivalent. Absence of an optional value is equivalent to logical false.
This International Standard shall explicitly indicate where a Boolean value is mandatory.
4.5 Output formats
The response to a Web Disaster Data Service request is always a computer file that is
transferred over the internet from the server to the client. The file may contain text, or the
file may represent a map image. As stated in 5.5, the type of the returned file shall be
indicated by a MIME type string.
Text formats are used to convey service metadata, descriptions of error conditions, or
responses to queries for information. All responses in this Standard have Text format
versions.
Text output formats are by default formatted as Extensible Markup Language (XML;
MIME type text/xml).
Depending on the FORMAT parameter, clients may request the response formatted as
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML; MIME type text/xml).
In a future stage other formats such as Portable Document Format (PDF) may also be
considered, and it is foreseen that in the future the response could also be requested in
a graphical form (bitmap chart, map, etc.)
4.6 Common request parameters
VERSION
The VERSION parameter specifies the protocol version number. The format of the
version number, and version negotiation, are described in 6.2.
REQUEST
The REQUEST parameter indicates which service operation is being invoked. The value
shall be the name of one of the operations offered by the Web Disaster Data Server.
SERVICE
The general form of a WDDS request is defined in 5.4. When making any request to a
WDDS server, which may offer other service types as well, it is necessary to indicate
that the client seeks information about the Web Disaster Data Service in particular.
Thus, the SERVICE parameter of the request shall have the value "WDDS" as shown in
the following Table 2.
FORMAT
The FORMAT parameter specifies the output format of the response to an operation. A
Server may optionally offer a new format not previously offered by other instances, with
the recognition that clients shall not be required to accept or process an unknown
format.
If a request contains a Format not offered by a particular server, the server shall respond
with the default format for that operation (XML).
Formats are expressed in both service metadata and in operation requests using MIME
types (for example: text/xml, text/plain, text/html, application/pdf, etc).
UPDATESEQUENCE
The optional UPDATESEQUENCE parameter is for maintaining cache consistency. Its
value can be either a integer, or a string that represents a timestamp in ISO 8601:2000
format (see Annex B), or any other string. The server may include an UpdateSequence
value in its service metadata. If present, this value should be increased at each request.
4.7 Web Disaster Data Service operations
4.7.1 Introduction
The operations defined for a Web Disaster Data Service are GetCapabilities,
GetDescriptor, GetDisasterRecord operation and GetDisasterRecordSet operations.
A statistical queryable WDDS shall satisfy all the requirements for a basic WDDS, and
shall also support the GetDisasterAggregate operation.
4.7.2 GetCapabilities (mandatory)
The purpose of the mandatory GetDescriptor operation is to obtain service metadata,
which is a machine readable (or human-readable if the format is PDF) description of the
server's information content and acceptable request parameter values.
Request Parameter
VERSION=version (1.0.0)
SERVICE=WDDS
REQUEST= GetCapabilities
UPDATESEQUENCE=string
Mandatory
/ Optional
O
M
M
O
Description
Request version
Service type
Request name
Sequence number or string for
cache control
Table 2 — The parameters of a GetCapabilities request URL
Version, Service will be defined as per the specification in section 5.7 Common
Parameters.
The server will responds to a mandatory GetCapabilities request with an XML response
will be returned with the following form:
<?xml version='1.0' encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- Service Metadata -->
<disaster_data_service xmlns="http://www.gripweb.org/wdds/wdds" version="1.0.0">
<capabilities>
<service_request>GetCapabilities</service_request>
<service_request>GetDescriptor</service_request>
<service_request>GetDisasterRecord</service_request>
<service_request>GetDisasterRecordSet</service_request>
<!—the following will be returned if the service requests are implemented -->
<service_request>[ GetDisasterAggregate]</service_request>
<service_request>[ other requests, reserved for future use]</service_request>
</capabilities>
<output_formats>
<!—XML format is Mandatory -->
<format>text/xml</format>
<!—any of the following formats will be returned if implemented -->
<format>text/plain</format>
<format>text/html</format>
<format>application/pdf</format>
<format>application/doc</format>
<!—if aggregates are supported, may be returned as charts/maps-->
<format>image/gif</format>
<format>image/png</format>
<format>image/jpg</format>
</output_formats>
<databases>
<db>
<dbcode>[database code]</dbcode>
<dbname>[database description]</dbname>
</db>
…
</databases>
</disaster_data_service>
The Service_request Tag indicates the WDDS can also process Aggregates and other
(TBD) request types that may be defined in the future, and what output formats can be
4.7.3 GetDescriptor (mandatory)
The purpose of the mandatory GetDescriptor operation is to obtain service metadata,
which is a machine readable (or human-readable if the format is PDF and format is
allowed) description of the server's information content and acceptable request
parameter values.
Request Parameter
VERSION=version (1.0.0)
SERVICE=WDDS
REQUEST= GetDescriptor
Mandatory
/ Optional
O
M
M
Description
Request version
Service type
Request name
countrycode =[String]
M
Database identifier, defined by
each system which uniquely
identifies a database
FORMAT=[xml | plain | pdf]
O
Output format of database
metadata
UPDATESEQUENCE=string
O
Sequence number or string for
cache control
Table 2 — The parameters of a GetDescriptor request URL
Version, Service and Format parameters will be defined as per the specification in
section 5.7 Common Parameters.
This mandatory request will respond with a database descriptor as defined in section
4.4.
4.7.4 GetDisasterRecord (mandatory)
The purpose of the mandatory GetDisasterRecord operation is to obtain information
about one specific Disaster Record.
The disaster record can be specified by:
1) The internal identifier of the record
2) A GLIDEnumber identifier
3) A triplet of Event Type, Geographic code, Time Stamp.
The Client must be aware that methods 2 and 3 may lead to more than one disaster
record. In these cases the service will populate the response with the appropriate (1)
value for the <more> tag.
Request Parameter
SERVICE=WDDS
REQUEST= GetDisasterRecord
countrycode =[String]
Mandatory
/ Optional
M
M
M
LANGUAGE=[ IsoCode | EN | LOCAL]
O
INTERNAL={internal identifier}
GLIDE={Glide number}
EVENT={Event type code}
GEOCODE={Geographic unit code}
LEVEL=[1..9]
DATE={date of the event}
O
O
O
O
O
O
Description
Service type
Request name
Database identifier, defined by
each system which uniquely
identifies a database
Requests data in an specific
language or defaults to local
language; EN should be
implemented.
Internal identifier, if known
Glide number, if known
Event type code
Geographic unit code
Geographic code level
Date of the event
FORMAT=MIME_type
O
Output format of service
metadata
UPDATESEQUENCE=string
O
Sequence number or string for
cache control
Table 2 — The parameters of a GetDisasterRecord request URL
Service, UpdateSequence and Format parameters will be defined as per the
specification in section 5.7 Common Parameters.
Request will have the value GetDisasterRecord
If parameter INTERNAL is present, it will be used to search for the record. If it is not
present, or is null, the server will attempt to use the GLIDE number parameter. Similar
logic applies if it is not supplied or not found, the system will resort to use the EVENT,
GEOCODE, LEVEL and DATE parameters to locate the record.
If more than one record is located, the server will respond with one record only, chosen
at each system’s discretion.
The response will be of the format specific equivalent form to:
<?xml version='1.0' encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- Service Metadata -->
<disaster_record_data xmlns="http://www.gripweb.org/wdds/wdds_r" version="1.0.0">
<internal_id>ID</internal_id>
<glide>GLIDEnumber</glide>
<timestamp>time</timestamp>
<timestamp_end>time</timestamp_end>
<information_source>Sources of info</information_source >
<geographic_code>geocode</geographic_code>
<event_type>main event code</event_type>
<other_event_types>
<type>[Event code]</type>
<type>[Event code]</type>
...
<type>[Event code]</type>
<event_types>
<effects>
<effect code=’[effect_code]’>value</effect>
<effect code=’[effect_code]’>value</effect>
...
<effect code=’[effect_code]’>value</effect>
<effect code=’[effect_code]’>value</effect>
</effects>
</disaster_record_data>
4.7.5 GetDisasterRecordSet (mandatory)
The purpose of the mandatory GetDisasterRecordSet operation is to obtain information
about a set of Disaster Record.
The disaster record set can be specified by:
1. A GLIDEnumber identifier
2. A combination of Event Types, Geographic codes and Time Stamp.
Methods 1 and 2 will be exclusive.
Request Parameter
SERVICE=WDDS
REQUEST= GetDisasterRecordSet
GLIDE={Glide number}
countrycode =[String]
Mandatory
/ Optional
M
M
O
M
Description
Service type
Request name
Glide number, if known
Database identifier, defined by
each system which uniquely
identifies a database
EVENTS={Event type code, code, ...}
O
Event type codes
GEOCODES={Geographic unit code, ...}
O
Geographic unit codes
LEVEL=[1..9]
O
Geographic code level
DATEFROM={date of the event}
O
Starting Date for the events
DATETO={date of the event}
O
End Dates for the events
MAXHITS=n
O
Maximum number of records in
response
STARTHIT=m
O
Skip the first m hits
FORMAT=MIME_type
O
Output format of service
metadata
UPDATESEQUENCE=string
O
Sequence number or string for
cache control
Table 2 — The parameters of a GetDisasterRecord request URL
Service, UpdateSequence and Format parameters will be defined as per the
specification in section 5.7 Common Parameters.
Request will have the value GetDisasterRecordSet
The server will attempt first to use the GLIDE number parameter. If it is not supplied or
not found, the system will resort to use the EVENTS, GEOCODES, LEVEL and DATE
parameters to locate the record.
The response will be of the format specific equivalent form to:
<?xml version='1.0' encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- Service Metadata -->
<disaster_recordset xmlns="http://www.gripweb.org/wdds/wdds_r" version="1.0.0">
<disaster_record_data>
<internal_id>ID</internal_id>
<glide>GLIDEnumber</glide>
<timestamp>time</timestamp>
<timestamp_end>time</timestamp_end>
<information_source>time</ information_source >
<geographic_code>geocode</geographic_code>
<event_type>main event code</event_type>
<other_event_types>
<type>[Event code]</type>
<type>[Event code]</type>
...
<type>[Event code]</type>
<event_types>
<effects>
<effect code=’[effect_code]’>value</effect>
<effect code=’[effect_code]’>value</effect>
...
<effect code=’[effect_code]’>value</effect>
<effect code=’[effect_code]’>value</effect>
</effects>
</disaster_record_data>
...
<disaster_record_data>
...
</disaster_record_data>
</disaster_recordset>
BIBLIOGRAPHY
DesInventar
[Provide here DI/LA RED References]
Glide
[Provide here ADRC References]
EMDAT
[Provide here CRED References]
Annual Disaster Statistical Review: the Numbers and Trends 2007
Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED)
Munich re
[Provide here MR References]
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction ISDR
Terminology of disaster risk reduction
http://www.unisdr.org/eng/library/lib-terminology-eng%20home.htm
Core Terminology of Disaster Reduction
by Katharina Thywissen (thywissen at ehs.unu.edu)
United Nations University — Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition © 1996 by Houghton
Mifflin Company.
IETF RFC 2045 (November 1996), Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part One:
Format of Internet Message Bodies, Freed, N. and Borenstein N., eds.,
<http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2045.txt>
IETF RFC 2396 (August 1998), Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax, Berners-Lee,
T., Fielding, N., and Masinter, L., eds., <http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt>
IETF RFC 2616 (June 1999), Hypertext Transfer Protocol – HTTP/1.1, Gettys, J., Mogul, J.,
Frystyk, H.,Masinter, L., Leach, P., and Berners-Lee, T., eds., <http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2616.txt>
ISO 8601:2000, Data elements and interchange formats — Information interchange —
Representation of dates and times
ISO 19111, Geographic information — Spatial referencing by coordinates
ISO 19115:2003, Geographic information — Metadata
UCUM, Unified Code for Units of Measure, Schadow, G. and McDonald, C. J. (eds.),
<http://aurora.rg.iupui.edu/~schadow/units/UCUM/ucum.html>
XML 1.0 (October 2000), Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (2nd edition), World Wide Web
Consortium Recommendation, Bray, T., Paoli, J., Sperberg-McQueen, C.M., and Maler, E., eds.,
<http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml>
XML Schema (May 2001), XML Schema Part 1: Structures, World Wide Web Consortium
Recommendation, Thompson, H. S., Beech, D., Maloney, M., and Mendelsohn, N., eds.,
<http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-2/>
OGC Web Map Service Interface
5 APPENDIX A
5.1 Hazard/Event definitions
5.1.1 Comparison Table between WG’s disaster databases
CRED - EM-DAT
Disaster SubDisaster Type
Type
Natural
Disasters
Complex
Disasters
LA RED - DESINVENTAR
Disaster Type
Famine
Drought
Disaster Sub-Type
ADRC - GLIDE
Disaster
Disaster Type
Sub-Type
Panic
Complex
Emergency
Drought
Drought
Insect
Infestation
SWISS RE - SIGMA
Disaster SubDisaster Type
Type
MUNICH RE - NAT CAT
Disaster
Disaster
Type
Sub-Type
Drought*
Drought
Wildfire
Epidemic
Earthquake
Epidemic
Earthquake
Explosion
Structural
Collapse
Earthquake
Landslide
Earthquake
Landslide
Earthquake
Ground
Shaking
Fire
Mudslide
Fire Following
Tsunami
Tsunami
Tsunami
Epidemic
Unspecified
Flood
Volcano
Cholera
Epidemic
Pandemic
Arbovirus
Typhoid
Cholera
Locusts
Diarrhoeal
Bubonic Plague
Typhoid
Bubonic
Plague
Biological
Antrax
Diphteria
Intestinal
Protozoal
Leptosporisis
Malaria
Epidemic
Measles
Meningitis
Plague
Rabies
Respiratory
Rickettsial
Small pox
Viral
Hepatitis
Extreme
Temperature
Cold Wave
Frost
Heat Wave
Snowfall
Extreme
Temperature
Cold Wave
Heat Waves*
Heat Wave
Cold
Rain
Frost
Heat Wave
Flood
Insect
Infestation
Coastal/Lake
flood
Flood
Heavy
Snowfall
Winter Storm
Floods
caused by
rapid melting
snow
Extreme
Drought
Temperature
Heat Wave
Wildfire
Winter
Damage/
Cold Wave
Frost/Freeze
Pollution
Unspecified
Alluvion
Flood
Flood
Landslides
Flood
General Flood
Flash Flood
Flash-Flood
Flash Floods
Flash Flood
Plain Flood
Coastal Erosion
Mudslide
Unspecified
Valley Flood
Sedimentation
Grasshopper
Biological Event
Locust
Plague/
Other
Animal Pests
Insect
Infestation
Pollution
Rats
Locusts
African Bees
Slide
Avalanche
Landslide
Landslide
Avalanche
Snow
Avalanche
Landslide
Landslides
Mudslide
Flash Floods
Mass
Movement
Avalanche
Landslide
Mudflow
Avalanche
Mudslide
Subsidience
Rockfall
Volcano
Wave/Surge
Unspecified
Eruption
Sludge Eruption
Volcano
Earthquake
Tsunami
Surge
Tsunami
Tidal Wave
Tsunami/Seaquake
Storm Surge
Volcano
Tsunami
Volcano
Tsunami
Storm Surge
(wave/surge)
Wildfire
Forest
Fire
Wild Fire
Peat
Forest Fire
Fire
Bush Fires*
Forest Fire
Wildfire
Fire Following
Scrub
Steppe
Windstorm
Cyclone
Storm
Thunderstorm
Severe Local
Storms
Flash
Floods
Storm
Hail
Tornado
Tropical
Cyclone
Storm
Winter Storm
Hurricane
Gale/Tornado
Tornado
Tornado
Tropical
Strom
Hailstrom
Landslide
Thunderstorm
Tornado
Hurricane/Cyclone
Mudslide
Lightning
Storm
Rain
Avalanche
Hail
Tropical
Storm
Typhoon
Typhoon
Violent Wind
Heavy Rain
Floods
Typhoon
Winter Strom
Blizzard
Tropical
Cyclones
Extratropical
Cyclone
Hail Storm
Sand Storm
Blizzard/Snow
Storm
Tornadoes
Storm Surge
Local
Sindstorm
Landslide
Unspecified
Mudslide
Cyclones
Storm Surge
Hurricanes
Violent Wind
Typhoons
Tropical
Depressions
Extratropical
Cyclone
Floods
Tornado
Landslide
Mudslide
Avalanche
Violent Wind
Technological
Disasters
Industrial
Accident
Chemical
Spill
Accident/
Collapse
Technological
Leaks
Explosion
Accident
Spills
Structural
Collapse
Fire
Miscellaneous
Accident
Technological
Disaster
Technical/
Engineering
Technical
Failure
Major Fires
Air
Multiple
Collison
Building
Fires
Explosions
Avation
Shipping
Gas Leak
Rail
Poisoning
Mining
Radiation
Collapse of
Other
Collapse
Explosion
buildings/bridges
Fire
Other
Transport
Accident
Air
Transport
Accident
Boat Capsize
Rail
Rail
Road
Automobile
Water
Aircraft
Navigation
Other
Other
Miscellaneous
Other
Technical/
Engineering
Biological
Extra
Terrestrial
Undefined
Meteorite
Disaster Type
Earthquake
Disaster Sub-Type
Volcano
CRED/EM-DAT
Sudden break within the
upper layers of the earth,
sometimes breaking the
surface, resulting in the
vibration of the ground, which
where strong enough will
cause the collapse of
buildings and destructions of
life and property
Discharge (aerially explosive)
of fragmentary ejecta, lava
and gasses from a volcanic
vent
MUNICHRE/NATCAT
Shaking and
displacement of ground
due to seismic waves.
This is the earthquake
itself WITHOUT
secondary effects!
All volcanic activity like
rock fall, ash fall, lava
streams, gases etc
DESINVENTAR
All movements in the
earth’s crust causing
any type of damage or
negative effect on
communities or
properties. The event
includes terms such as
earth tremor, earthquake
and vibration.
Volcanic eruption with
disastrous effects:
eruption and emission of
gas and ashes, stone
falls (pyroclast), flows of
lava, etc. This event
includes eruption of
sludge volcanoes found
in some Caribbean
regions.
ADRC/GLIDE
A shaking or trembling of
the earth that is volcanic or
tectonic in origin causing
any type of damage or
negative effect on
communities or properties.
Eruption from a vent in the
crust of the earth or
another planet from which
usually molten or hot rock
and steam issue; of
explosively violent
potential. Volcanic eruption
with disastrous effects:
eruption and emission of
gas and ashes, stone falls
(pyroclast), flows of lava,
etc.
Dry Mass
Movements
Avalanche
Rapid and sudden sliding and
flowage of masses of usually
unsorted mixtures of
snow/ice/rock material
Swift sliding of loosened
ice and/or snow masses.
Mass of snow and ice
falling suddenly down a
mountain slope and often
taking with it earth, rocks
and rubble of every
description.
Landslide
In general, all varieties of
slope movement, under the
influence of gravity. More
strictly refers to down-slope
movement of rock and/or
earth masses along one or
several slide surfaces
All mass movements
other than surface
erosion of a hillside. This
event includes terms
such as precipitation of
earth, settling, horizontal
land thrust , mass
movement,
displacement,
subsidence, collapse of
caves or mines, rock
falls, (slow or quick)
detachment of soil
masses or rocks on
The usually rapid
downward movement of a
mass of rock, earth, or
artificial fill on a slope.
Under this denomination
fall all mass movements
other than Mud Slide (MS)
and Avalanche (AV).
watersheds or hillsides
Mudslide
A type of landslide, which
occurs when the slope is
saturated with water. This
more destructive flow can
pick up rocks, trees,
houses and cars. As the
debris moves into river and
stream beds, bridges can
become blocked or even
collapse, making a
temporary dam that can
flood neighbouring areas.
Rockfall
Flood
Significant rise of water level
in a stream, lake, reservoir or
coastal region
Flash Flood
Storm
River flood and general
flood
Water that overflows
river-bed levels and runs
slowly or quickly on
small areas or vast
regions. Tidal flooding in
coastal zones will be
reported as “Tidal wave”
Rapid flooding caused
by intense rainfall
Wind with a speed between
48 and 55 knots
Rain accompanied by
strong winds and/or
electric discharges
(lightning). Due to
regional connotations,
sometimes there is no
The overflowing of water of
the normal confines of a
stream or other body of
water, or the accumulation
of water by drainage over
areas which are not
normally submerged.
Excludes Tidal flooding in
coastal zones will be
reported as “Storm Surge”.
Flooding that develops
very quickly on streams
and river tributaries with a
relatively high peak
discharge; usually as a
result of thunderstorms.
Sometimes the onset of
flash flooding comes
before the end of heavy
rains. There is little time
between the detection of
flood conditions and the
arrival of the flood crest.
Swift action is essential to
the protection of life and
property.
A tornado, waterspout, or a
thunderstorm with winds of
50 knots (25 m/s) or
greater and/or hail ¾” (20
mm) or greater in diameter
at the ground. Usually
difference between
“storm” and “gale”.
Cyclone
Cyclones in tropic areas
e.g. Hurricanes,
typhoons, tropical
depressions etc
Violent atmospheric
anomaly characterized
by strong whirling winds
accompanied by rain in
the Indian Ocean
Hurricane
Large-scale closed circulation
system in the atmosphere
above the western Atlantic
with low barometric pressure
and strong winds that rotate
clockwise in the southern
hemisphere and counterclockwise in the northern
hemisphere
Violent atmospheric
anomaly characterized
by strong whirling winds
accompanied by rain
They are originated in
the Caribbean Sea and
tropical areas of the
Pacific Ocean
Tornado
Violently rotating storm
diameter; the most violent
weather phenomenon. It is
produced in a very severe
thunderstorm and appears as
a funnel cloud extending from
the base of a cumulonimbus
to the ground
All atmospheric
disturbance generating
strong and destructive
winds, usually without
rain or little rain. The
term is synonym of
hurricane-type winds,
whirlwind, squall,
cyclone, strong wind,
blizzard, wind-blast,
gust, and tornado
Tropical Storm
Generic term for a non-frontal
synoptic scale cyclone
originating over tropical or
sub-tropical waters with
organized convection and
definite cyclonic wind
circulation
Large-scale closed circulation
system in the atmosphere
above the western Pacific
with low barometric pressure
and strong winds that rotate
Typhoon
Violent atmospheric
anomaly characterized
by strong whirling winds
accompanied by rain in
the West Pacific Ocean
results to significant wind
damage (several downed
trees) and/or large hail
Generic term for a nonfrontal synoptic scale
cyclone originating over
tropical or sub-tropical
waters with organized+D51
convection and definite
cyclonic surface wind
circulation located in
tropical areas of the Pacific
and Indian Ocean
Generic term for a nonfrontal synoptic scale
cyclone originating over
tropical or sub-tropical
waters with organized+D51
convection and definite
cyclonic surface wind
circulation. They are
originated in the Caribbean
Sea.
A violently rotating storm of
small diameter; the most
violent weather
phenomenon. It is
produced in a very severe
thunderstorm and appears
as a funnel cloud
extending from the base of
a Cumulonimbus to the
ground.
Generic term for a nonfrontal synoptic scale
cyclone originating over
tropical or sub-tropical
waters with organized+D51
Winter Storm
clockwise in the southern
hemisphere and counterclockwise in the northern
hemisphere. Maximum speed
of 64 knots or more
Snow (blizzard), ice or sleet
storm
convection and definite
cyclonic surface wind
circulation located in the
West Pacific Ocean
Blizzard, ice & snow e.g.
in north america
Extreme
Temperature
Heat Wave
Cold Wave
Long-lasting period with
extremely low surface
temperature
heat waves like in
central europe 2003
Rise of atmospheric
average temperature
well above the averages
of a region, with effects
on human populations,
crops, properties and
services.
Damage caused by low
temperatures
Drop of atmospheric
average temperature
well above ….
Fire in forested/bush
areas e.g. California,
Australia
The event includes all
open-air fires in rural
areas, natural and
artificial forests, plains,
etc.
Fire
Wild/Forest Fire
Urban Fire
Wet Mass
Movements
Epidemic
Marked warming of the air,
or the invasion of very
warm air, over a large
area; it usually lasts from a
few days to a few weeks.
This is a rise of
atmospheric average
temperature well above the
averages of a region, with
effects on human
populations, crops,
properties and services.
Marked cooling air, or the
invasion of very warm air,
over a large area; …..
A destructive burning (as
of a building)
An uncontrollable fire in a
forest or bush area
Urban, industrial or rural
fires, but not including
forest fires. Limited to
those induced or highly
connected to natural
phenomena, such as
electrical storms,
earthquakes, droughts,
etc.
Same sub-types and
definitions as Dry
Mass Movements
Either an unusual increase in
Disease attacking many
Affecting or tending to
the number of cases of an
infectious disease, which
already exists in the region or
population concerned; or the
appearance of an infection
previously absent from a
region
Insect
Infestation
Plague
Animal Attack
Complex
disaster
individuals in a same
community during short
terms (days, weeks,
months maximum), such
as cholera, typhoid,
bubonic plague, etc.
Pervasive influx and
development of insects of
parasites affecting humans,
animals, crops and materials
Proliferation of insects or
animal pests affecting
communities,
agriculture, cattle or
stored perishable goods;
for example, rats,
locusts, African bees,
etc.
affect a disproportionately
large number of individuals
within a population,
community, or region at the
same time. Non-pandemic
disease attacking many
individuals in a same
community during short
terms (days, weeks,
months maximum), such
as cholera, typhoid,
bubonic plague, etc
Spreading or swarming in
of various kinds of insects
over or in a troublesome
manner. Proliferation of
insects or animal pests
affecting communities,
agriculture, cattle or stored
perishable goods; for
example locusts, African
bees, etc.
5.1.2 Event types: GLIDEnumber Database Definitions
CW - Cold Wave
Marked cooling of the air, or the invasion of very warm air, over a large area; it
usually lasts from a few days to a few weeks. This is a drop of atmospheric average
temperature well above the averages of a region, with effects on human populations,
crops, properties and services.
CE - Complex Emergency
The official definition of a complex emergency is “a humanitarian crisis in a country,
region or society where there is total or considerable breakdown of authority resulting
from internal or external conflict and which requires an international response that
goes beyond the mandate or capacity of any single agency and/ or the ongoing
United Nations country program.” (IASC, December 1994).
DR - Drought
Pronounced absence or marked deficiency of precipitation.
EQ - Earthquake
A shaking or trembling of the earth that is volcanic or tectonic in origin causing any
type of damage or negative effect on communities or properties.
EP - Epidemic
Affecting or tending to affect a disproportionately large number of individuals within a
population, community, or region at the same time. Non-pandemic disease attacking
many individuals in a same community during short terms (days, weeks, months
maximum), such as cholera, typhoid, bubonic plague, etc
EC – Extra-tropical Cyclone
Low-pressure system which develops in latitudes outside the tropics
ET - Extreme temperature(use CW/HW instead)
Please do not use this event code, which is kept for compatibility for some past
events. Use CW-Cold Wave or HW-Heat wave instead.
FA - Famine(use other "Hazard" code instead)
Famine is one of the possible effects of a disaster rather than a disaster in itself.
Please use the code of the disaster that triggered the famine (Drought, insect
infestation, flood, etc.)
FR - Fire
A destructive burning (as of a building). Include in this category urban, industrial or
rural fires, but not including wild (forest) fires. Limited to those induced or highly
connected to natural phenomena, such as electrical storms, earthquakes, droughts,
etc. Note that directly human-induced fires should be classified either as CE Complex Emergency or as AC - Tech. Disaster.
FF - Flash Flood
Flooding that develops very quickly on streams and river tributaries with a relatively
high peak discharge; usually as a result of thunderstorms. Sometimes the onset of
flash flooding comes before the end of heavy rains. There is little time between the
detection of flood conditions and the arrival of the flood crest. Swift action is essential
to the protection of life and property.
FL – Flood
The overflowing of water of the normal confines of a stream or other body of water,
or the accumulation of water by drainage over areas which are not normally
submerged. Excludes Tidal flooding in coastal zones will be reported as “Storm
Surge”.
HT - Heat Wave.
Marked warming of the air, or the invasion of very warm air, over a large area; it
usually lasts from a few days to a few weeks. This is a rise of atmospheric average
temperature well above the averages of a region, with effects on human populations,
crops, properties and services.
IN - Insect Infestation
Spreading or swarming in of various kinds of insects over or in a troublesome
manner. Proliferation of insects or animal pests affecting communities, agriculture,
cattle or stored perishable goods; for example locusts, African bees, etc.
LS - Land Slide
The usually rapid downward movement of a mass of rock, earth, or artificial fill on a
slope. Under this denomination fall all mass movements other than Mud Slide (MS)
and Avalanche (AV).
MS - Mud Slide
A type of landslide, which occurs when the slope is saturated with water. This more
destructive flow can pick up rocks, trees, houses and cars. As the debris moves into
river and stream beds, bridges can become blocked or even collapse, making a
temporary dam that can flood neighbouring areas.
OT - Other
Use this event type when no definition matches (even approximately) the event being
reported. It should be used only on very rare occasions.
ST - SEVERE LOCAL STORM
A tornado, waterspout, or a thunderstorm with winds of 50 knots (25 m/s) or greater
and/or hail ¾” (20 mm) or greater in diameter at the ground. Usually results to
significant wind damage (several downed trees) and/or large hail..
SL - SLIDE (use LS/ AV/MS instead)
Please do not use this event code, which is kept for compatibility for some past
events. Use LS-Lanslide, AV-Snow Avalanche or MS-Mud slide instead as
appropriate.
AV - Snow Avalanche
Mass of snow and ice falling suddenly down a mountain slope and often taking with it
earth, rocks and rubble of every description.
SS - Storm Surge
The difference between the actual water level under influence of a meteorological
disturbance (storm tide) and the level, which would have been attained in the
absence of the meteorological disturbance (i.e. astronomical tide).
AC - Technological Disaster
Air accident, Multiple collision, Building fire, etc. Under this category operators will
classify the following:
- Automobile, rail, aircraft or navigation accidents, including transportation
accidents.
- Damages or collapse of any type of structure for reasons such as excess weight
in public places, bridges, etc. Damages in structures caused by natural phenomena
should be reported as an effect of these phenomena.
- Urban fires caused by technological failures and explosions of any type, but
limited to those induced or highly connected to non-natural phenomena different that
Complex Emergency (social conflict, ie. terrorist attacks, etc.).
- Pollution events: Concentration of polluting substances in the air, water or soils,
at levels harmful to human health, crops or animal species, including leaks of harmful
liquid, solid or gas substances, whether radioactive or not.
TO - Tornadoes
A violently rotating storm of small diameter; the most violent weather phenomenon. It
is produced in a very severe thunderstorm and appears as a funnel cloud extending
from the base of a Cumulonimbus to the ground.
TC - Tropical Cyclone
Generic term for a non-frontal synoptic scale cyclone originating over tropical or subtropical waters with organized+D51 convection and definite cyclonic surface wind
circulation. They are originated in the Caribbean Sea (where they are known as
Hurricanes), tropical areas of the Pacific and Indian Ocean, where they are
denominated Cyclones., and in the West Pacific Ocean, where they are called
Typhoons.
TS - Tsunami
A great sea wave produced by submarine earth movement or volcanic eruption.
VW - Violent Wind
Violent storm – wind with a speed between 56 and 63 knots (Beaufort scale wind
force 11).
VO - Volcano
Eruption from a vent in the crust of the earth or another planet from which usually
molten or hot rock and steam issue; of explosively violent potential.
Volcanic eruption with disastrous effects: eruption and emission of gas and ashes,
stone falls (pyroclast), flows of lava, etc.
WV - Wave/Surge(use TS/SS instead)
Please do not use this event code, which is kept for compatibility for some past
events. Use Tsunami or Storm Surge as appropriate.
WF - Wild fire
Also denominated Forest Fire. An uncontrolled fire in a forest or bush area. The
event includes all open-air fires in rural areas, natural and artificial forests, plains, etc
5.1.3 Event types: DesInventar Database Definitions
Accident
Automobile, rail, aircraft or navigation accidents. Limited to accidents induced by
natural phenomena, such as landslides, earthquakes, hurricanes, rain, etc. Includes
transportation accidents generating spills or leaks of harmful substances, regardless
of the cause.
Avalanche
Swift sliding of loosened ice and/or snow masses.
Alluvion
Torrential water flows dragging large amounts of solid material (pebbles, stones, and
rock blocks) common in dry regions or river beds produced by heavy rain. Equivalent
to the term “huaico” used in Peru.
Flash-flood
Torrential freshet. Violent water flow in a watershed, overflowing or as torrent. Flashfloods usually carry tree trunks and/or abundant fine to bulky sediment. They can be
caused by rain, dam bursting or abundant landslides on a watershed or basin.
Biological Event
Destruction of biological species for known or unknown reasons. In the end, these
events may be associated to pollution or drastic changes in environmental
parameters. An example could be the “red tide”.
Pollution
Concentration of polluting substances in the air, water or soils, at levels harmful to
human health, crops or animal species.
Landslide
All mass movements other than surface erosion of a hillside. This event includes
terms such as precipitation of earth, settling, horizontal land thrust , mass movement,
displacement, subsidence, collapse of caves or mines, rock falls, (slow or quick)
detachment of soil masses or rocks on watersheds or hillsides. This event includes
report of “faults” in hillside slopes or cuts, roads, canals, excavations, etc.
Epidemic
Disease attacking many individuals in a same community during short terms (days,
weeks, months maximum), such as cholera, typhoid, bubonic plague, etc.
Eruption
Volcanic eruption with disastrous effects: eruption and emission of gas and ashes,
stone falls (pyroclast), flows of lava, etc. This event includes eruption of sludge
volcanoes found in some Caribbean regions.
Leak
Leak of harmful liquid, solid or gas substances, whether radioactive or not, generated
by technological accidents, human fault or transportation accidents.
Structural Collapse
Damages or collapse of any type of structure for reasons such as excess weight in
public places, bridges, etc. This event includes damage that, although not taking the
structures to the point of collapse, does make them unusable. Damages in structures
caused by natural phenomena are reported as an effect of these phenomena.
Explosion
Explosions of any type, but limited to those induced or highly connected to natural
phenomena, such as electrical storms, earthquakes, droughts, etc.
Forest fire
Forest fire. The event includes all open-air fires in rural areas, natural and artificial
forests, plains, etc.
Hailstorm
Precipitation of hail. Frozen raindrops that fall violently in the form of hard pellets.
Frost
Temperature low enough to cause freezing, with damaging effects on population,
crops, properties and services.
Hurricanes/Cyclones
Violent atmospheric anomaly characterized by strong whirling winds accompanied by
rain. They are originated in the Caribbean Sea and tropical areas of the Pacific
Ocean. They are equivalent to the cyclones in the Indian Ocean and to typhoons in
the West Pacific Ocean.
Fire
Urban, industrial or rural fires, but not including forest fires. Limited to those induced
or highly connected to natural phenomena, such as electrical storms, earthquakes,
droughts, etc.
Flood
Water that overflows river-bed levels and runs slowly or quickly on small areas or vast
regions. Tidal flooding in coastal zones will be reported as “Tidal wave”.
Coastal erosion
Variations of the coast line and/or maritime zones near the coast. Includes formation
and destruction of islands, beaches and sand banks and erosion of cliffs affecting
populations, navigation, etc.
Rain
Precipitation. Includes punctual, persistent or torrential rain, or rain exceeding the
rainfall averages of a specific region; also, unusual long rain periods. Rain includes
terms such as downpour, cloudburst, heavy shower, deluge, persistent drizzle,
squalls, etc.
Tidal Wave
Great sea waves breaking on the littoral. Includes reports caused by hurricanes,
gales, storms -other than tsunami or seaquake, in the strict sense indicated under
“tsunami”- by coincidence of wind directions and high tide periods, or by rise of
average sea level during the phenomenon “El Niño”. In some places, tidal rises
reaching maximum bimonthly levels or up to maximum annual levels are called "high
tide".
Snowfall
Anomalous fall and accumulation of snow, especially when it occurs in zones not
subject to seasonal changes. This term refers to events where precipitation exceeds
the average multi-annual values, causing especially serious effects.
Heat Wave
Rise of atmospheric average temperature well above the averages of a region, with
effects on human populations, crops, properties and services.
Cold Wave
Rise of atmospheric average temperature well above the averages of a region, with
effects on human populations, crops, properties and services.
Panic
Panic o mass hysteria among people concentrated in a certain place (stadiums,
theaters, etc.) that can kill or injure them, and cause physical damage. Limited to
those induced or highly connected to natural phenomena, such as electrical storms,
earthquakes, etc., and early warnings about incoming events.
Plague
Proliferation of insects or animal pests affecting communities, agriculture, cattle or
stored perishable goods; for example, rats, locusts, African bees, etc.
Earthquake
All movements in the earth’s crust causing any type of damage or negative effect on
communities or properties. The event includes terms such as earth tremor,
earthquake and vibration.
Sedimentation
Deposits of solid material on hillsides and river beds produced by mass movements
or surface erosion with damages on crops, utilities or other infrastructure.
Drought
Unusually dry season, without rain or with rain deficit. As a whole, these are long
periods (months, years, and even decades) typical in limited continental areas or on
regional scales.
Storm
Rain accompanied by strong winds and/or electric discharges (lightning). Due to
regional connotations, sometimes there is no difference between “storm” and “gale”.
Thunderstorm
Electrical Storm: concentration of atmospheric static discharges (lightning), with
effects on people, cattle, domestic properties, infrastructure (mains, for example,
causing blackouts), and industries. It is different from “storm” in that thunderstorms
are not accompanied by rain and gusty winds.
Tsunami
The term is applied only to waves generated by undersea movements (caused by
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or landslides).
Gale/Tornado
All atmospheric disturbance generating strong and destructive winds, usually without
rain or little rain. The term is synonym of hurricane-type winds, whirlwind, squall,
cyclone, strong wind, blizzard, wind-blast, gust, and tornado.
5.2 Effect definitions
5.2.1 Human and economic Impact: EM-DAT Database Definitions
Disaster: A situation or event which overwhelms local capacity, necessitating a request
to the national or international level for external assistance, or is recognised as such by a
multilateral agency or by at least two sources, such as national, regional or international
assistance groups and the media.
Killed: Persons confirmed dead and persons missing and presumed dead (the number of
missing is included when the figure becomes official).
Injured: People suffering from physical injuries, trauma, or an illness requiring medical
treatment as a direct result of a disaster. The injured are always part of the "total
affected". Any related word like “hospitalized” is considered as injured.
Affected: People requiring immediate assistance during an emergency situation. They
are always part of the "total affected" population.
Homeless: People needing immediate assistance with shelter. They are always part of
the "total affected" population.
Total affected: The total affected is the sum of injured, affected and homeless.
Total estimated damages (in 000'US$): A value of all damages and economic losses
directly or indirectly related to the disaster.
Reconstruction cost (in 000'US$): These costs (in 000'US$) are for the replacement of
lost assets. Reconstruction costs are different than total damages as they must take into
account present construction or purchase costs of goods, as well as the additional cost
of prevention and mitigation measures to reduce damage from future disasters.
Insured losses (in 000'US$): Economic damages which are covered by the insurance
industry.
5.2.2 Human and economic Impact: DesInventar Database
Definitions
Killed: Corresponds to the number of people who died due to direct causes, whether
immediately or time after the disaster.
If final official data are available, they must be included with the relevant comments. For
example, when official figures differ from those of other sources.
Assumptions about deaths not officially verified must be registered under “Comments”,
stating the information source.
Injured
Corresponds to the number of persons with bodily injuries. Bodily injuries, and, if the
cause is plague or epidemic, the sick must be included.
Missing people
Number of persons whose whereabouts as from the effects of the disaster are unknown.
It includes people presumed dead without physical evidence. Data on dead and missing
persons are mutually exclusive; therefore, avoid grouping them.
Victims
Number of persons whose individual or collective property and/or services have suffered
serious damage directly associated to the event. For example, total or partial destruction
of homes and property; loss of crops and/or warehouses, etc. This group also includes
evacuees or resettled persons, whether temporarily or not. If the information is available
by family, the number of persons must be estimated based on indicators available.
Evacuees
Number of persons temporarily evacuated from their homes. If the information is
available by family, the number of persons must be estimated based on indicators
available.
Resettled persons
Number of persons who have been moved from their homes to new permanent sites. If
the information is available by family, the number of persons must be estimated based
on indicators available.
Affected persons
Number of persons who suffer indirect or secondary effects associated to a disaster.
These persons, different from “victims”, suffer the impact of secondary effects of
disasters for reasons such as deficiencies in the provision of public services, the
hampering of trade and work, isolation, or their mental health may be affected. If the
information is available by family, the number of persons must be estimated based on
indicators available.
Effects on infrastructure
Destroyed houses
Houses that have collapsed, or have been swept, submerged or damaged in such a
manner that they are not habitable.
Affected houses
Number of houses that suffered minor damage other then structural or architectural, and
continue to be habitable, although requiring basic repairs and cleaning.
Roads - Mts.
Extension in meters of road networks destroyed and/or unfit for use.
Hectares
Crop, pasture or forest areas destroyed.
Livestock
Number of animals lost.
Education Centers
Number of nurseries, schools, universities, training centers, etc that were destroyed
and/or affected.
Hospitals
Number of local and regional health centers, clinics and hospitals.
Indicators
Vital lines, public and production infrastructure that suffered an effect:
Transport
Road networks, railways, transport terminals, airports, river and seaports.
Agricultural
Crops, farms, pasture zones.
Communications
Telephone plants and networks, radio and television stations, mail and public information
offices.
Power
Dams, substations, transmission lines, generation plants, processing plants, fuel
deposits, oil and gas lines.
Education
All related to this sector: nurseries, schools, universities, training centers, etc.
Rescue Departments
Fire departments, Civil Defense, Red Cross and public order entities.
Water Supply Systems
Intakes, treatment plants, aqueducts and canals conducting drinking water.
Sewerage
Networks for disposal of waste and/or rain water; treatment plants.
Industry
Industries of all types and sizes, including agricultural and livestock industries.
Health
Local and regional health centers, clinics, hospitals.
Loss Value
Amount of direct losses in present value (local currency).
Loss Value in US dollars
Amount in dollars equivalent to the losses entered in the previous field, based on the
exchange rate in force the date of the disaster. This value is useful to make comparative
evaluations.
Other losses
Very short description (may include estimated value) of losses due to indirect or induced
effects attributable to interruptions or deficiencies in the provision of public services, the
hampering of trade and work, and geographical isolation.
Magnitude
This alpha-numeric field is used to enter international magnitude values for seism,
volcanic eruption, tsunami, hurricane – tropical storm.
For other cases, you may enter quantified variables such as wind speed; heights of
flashfloods and floods in meters; 24-hour rainfall in specific places; area or volume of
landslides or deposits. We recommend to use always the same units for each type of
variable: km/hr, m, mm/day, m2, m3, km3.
This field allows short descriptions (up to 25 letters), such as “slight”, “medium”, “high”,
“extreme”, etc.
Comments
This is the last field in the data card. The data operator posts here all comments,
observations, texts considered relevant to the disaster, including clarifications, caveats,
additional information, narrative about the occurrence, impact and other aspects of the
event.
Date and “By”: to be filled by the operator in charge of data entry, with the date of data
adquisition/processing/entry and the initials of the operator.