Disaster Database Project Standard Fields

 

LOCATION The current country within the borders of which the event occurred - for events that occurred in oceans or seas beyond the normal territorial waters of a country, the ocean or sea is used.
HISTORICAL LOCATION In some cases, the location of an event may have been subject to one or more name changes in the intervening time between the event and today.  Other names for the location will be included in this field.
ADDITIONAL LOCATION The province or state, region, district, city, town, village, river or lake, or other geographical location that provides a relatively exact location.
LATITUDE Latitude data used is either an accurate location or a good approximation of an accurate location, within 1 to 5 statue miles.  Values for North latitude are reported as numerals in the sequence degrees, minutes, seconds.  Values for South latitude are reported as numerals in the sequence -degrees, - minutes, - seconds.
LONGITUDE Longitude data used is either an accurate location or a good approximation of an accurate location, within 1 to 5 statue miles.  Values for East longitude are reported as numerals in the sequence degrees, minutes, seconds.  Values for West longitude are reported as numerals in the sequence -degrees, - minutes, - seconds.
MAIDENHEAD FIELD/GRID Events are geolocated using the Maidenhead grid to place the location within a rectangular field 60 nautical miles north to south and 120 nautical miles east to west at the equator.  The east to west measurement decreases as lines of longitude converge approach the poles.  The Maidenhead grid is typically depicted on a Mercator projection, and an atlas overlaid with the grid can be purchased from the American Radio Relay League.  Use of the Maidenhead grid allows identification of incidents happening within a reasonably compact geographical area, and easy search of contiguous areas.  When latitude and longitude data are missing from the record, location within the grid should only be taken as approximate.
DATE Dates are indicated as CE (Current Era, the same value as AD) or BCE (Before Current Era, the same value as BC) to more accurately reflect dates without reference to the actual date of the birth of Christ.  Dates are formatted year-month-day in accordance with International Organization for Standardization standard ISO-8601 (2004).
TIME FRAME Where specific time periods are not available, the approximate time of day is indicated.
START TIME The start time of the event on the date in 24 hour time, normally reported as local time on the date of the event.  If time as reported as GMT or UTC it has been converted to Greenwich Mean Time or Universal Coordinated Time.
END TIME The date and time of the last significant continuous response and recovery activity for the event.  Dates are formatted year-month-day in accordance with International Organization for Standardization standard ISO-8601 (2004).  Time is reported as 24 hour time, normally as local time.  If time as reported as GMT or UTC it has been converted to Greenwich Mean Time or Universal Coordinated Time.
DURATION The difference in years, months, weeks, days, or hours between start and end times.
CLASS OF EVENT The general class of the event as:
  • Natural disaster
  • Human systems failure
  • Conflict based disaster
IMPACT OF EVENT This field indicates the general sector which appears, based on available information, to have suffered the greatest impact in the event.
TYPE OF EVENT Event types provide a more detailed level of classification than that offered by Class of Event.  During 2007, the Database will be transitioning from the current classifications which emerged over the course of analysis of some 1800 events to a standard taxonomy developed from those classifications.
DISASTER INDEX The Disaster Index is an impact grading index developed for use with the Disaster Database Project to indicate relative impact of events.  A value of 1 is a low impact event, and a value of 7 is a high impact event.  Index values depend on the number of criteria found in available accounts, may be only approximately accurate, and are subject to revision as additional information is developed.
EVENT INTENSITY The maximum reported intensity or magnitude of an event using standard scales.
LINKED EVENTS This field provides a hyperlink to other events which are directly associated by either type and characteristics, by organizational association, or by time and location of occurrence.
ASSOCIATED EVENTS This field identifies other types of events that may apply to this event for search for events with common characteristics.
FATALITIES The number of fatalities reported for the event.  Fatality reports may be only approximate, are subject to manipulation for political purposes, and, especially in older accounts, may be only intended to reflect event intensity.  In general, the database lists the value the editor believes is most credible in this field, and reports other values in the Impact narrative section.  Approximate values are recorded as:
  • Several = 2
  • Dozens = 12
  • Scores = 20
  • Hundreds = 100
  • Thousands = 1000
  • Tens of thousands = 10,000
MISSING Individuals reported as having not been accounted for during a disaster at the last point in time for which information is available.  Depending on the type of event, missing persons may reasonably be assumed to have died in the event - for example those reported missing in maritime or aviation disasters.  Approximate values are recorded as:
  • Several = 2
  • Dozens = 12
  • Scores = 20
  • Hundreds = 100
  • Thousands = 1000
  • Tens of thousands = 10,000
INJURED Individuals reported as having been injured or become ill as a result of the impact of the disaster.  This field does not provide any assessment of the level of injury, although more detailed data may be found in the Impact phase field.  Approximate values are recorded as:
  • Several = 2
  • Dozens = 12
  • Scores = 20
  • Hundreds = 100
  • Thousands = 1000
  • Tens of thousands = 10,000
SURVIVORS Individuals reported as having survived the disaster, including those injured who did not expire.  Approximate values are recorded as:
  • Several = 2
  • Dozens = 12
  • Scores = 20
  • Hundreds = 100
  • Thousands = 1000
  • Tens of thousands = 10,000
ANIMALS KILLED Including domesticated animals, mammals, birds, and fish.  Approximate values are recorded as:
  • Several = 2
  • Dozens = 12
  • Scores = 20
  • Hundreds = 100
  • Thousands = 1000
  • Tens of thousands = 10,000
PEOPLE DISPLACED People reported as displaced, evacuated, or in refugee status.  Approximate values are recorded as:
  • Several = 2
  • Dozens = 12
  • Scores = 20
  • Hundreds = 100
  • Thousands = 1000
  • Tens of thousands = 10,000
PEOPLE IMPACTED Reported estimated total number of people who suffered some level of disaster impact.  Levels of impact are highly variable in their assessment, and this figure should be taken as a general indicator only.
BUILDINGS Buildings or significant structures (such as bridges, aqueducts, dams, etc.) reported as involved, substantially damaged, or destroyed.  Approximate values are recorded as:
  • Several = 2
  • Dozens = 12
  • Scores = 20
  • Hundreds = 100
  • Thousands = 1000
  • Tens of thousands = 10,000
VEHICLES Aircraft, railroad cars or engines, automobiles, trucks, buses, and vessels reported as involved, having suffered substantial damage, or been destroyed.
AREA COVERED Reported in statute square miles.  Values for acres or hectares or square kilometers are rounded to the nearest square mile.
COST Costs for the disaster in the currency of the nation at the time of the event if available.  Cost data is highly suspect, as it rarely is inclusive of all costs, and many authors express costs in "now year" versus "then year" currency.  Costs reported in United States Dollars are especially suspect when attributed to disaster events in other nations.  Where the date of the cost data is known for historical events it is indicated.  Approximate values are recorded as:
  • Hundreds = 100
  • Thousands = 1000
  • Tens of thousands = 10,000
  • Hundreds of thousands = 100,000
  • Millions = 1,000,000
CITATION All sources used in the preparation of the event entry are listed.  Dates in this section are in transition to the ISO-8601 standard.  Listings of sources from online news sites only include the basic site location, as these typically are either transitory or may move to new archive locations. 
PHASE I PRODROME A narrative description of events or activities preceding the disaster which, usually in retrospect, could reasonably have caused someone to identify the potential for a major accident or disaster before the event occurred.  Action on a prodrome could conceivably have avoided the disaster or reduced its impact.
PHASE II DEVELOPMENT A narrative description of events immediately prior to the disaster which led inevitably to the event's occurrence.
PHASE III IMPACT A narrative description of events from the point at which the first impacts of the disaster were felt to the point at which these decreased toward a normal state of nature and response activity was initiated.
PHASE IV RESPONSE A narrative description of actions taken in response to the disaster's onset to reduce its impacts, to save life and property, reduce damage to the environment and social, political, and economic system, and to immediately stabilize the situation.
PHASE V RECOVERY A narrative description of actions taken over time as response activities are completed to return the impact area to some level of functionality.
FACTORS For each phase, available information is qualitatively assessed to identify common factors present.  Identified factors are listed below the phase.  These are coded in parentheses as follows:
  • 0 - factor not present in either the impact (0e) or response (0r)
  • 1 - factor present and tended to increase the impact of the event (1e) or decrease the effect of response efforts (1r)
  • 2 - factor present, but appears to have neither increased impact or increased the effectiveness of the response.
  • 3 - factor present and tended to reduce the impact of the event (3e) or increase the effect of response efforts (3r)
  • X - available information does not allow assessment of the factor's effect

Factors are not listed in any particular order, either sequential or of importance.