Drought and Famine data in EM-DAT

1. Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters - CRED Drought and Famine data in EM-DAT Regina Below, CRED

2. EM-DAT: CONTENT EM-DAT contains core data on the occurrence and effects of: • 822 (entries) drought • 76 (entries) famine 5th TAG Meeting, WDC, 19/08/2005

3. Drought/Famine: Data problematic (1) Long-term and multi-country events (2) Definition of a drought/famine event (3) Gaps in data (4) Reliability of the data (5) No existing database on drought/famine (6) Lack of clear methodology to handle drought/famine entry (7) Famine problematic 5th TAG Meeting, WDC, 19/08/2005

4. (1) Long-term disasters and cumulative data • Drought are usually multi-years event affecting more than 1 country (multi-countries) • In previous EM-DAT database, each drought record was entered by year and by country e.g. Famine/Drought Ethiopia entered each year and data were cumulative. If the same drought affected other neighbour countries: New entry for each country with a new disaster number Alternative solution to avoid cumulative data: Divide the total number of killed/affected by the number of years the country was affected • No consistent methodology applied to all events 5th TAG Meeting, WDC, 19/08/2005

5. Drought and famine in new EM-DAT Availability to handle multi-countries and multi- years events • 1 entry by event with start and end date • No cumulative data anymore • Standard methodology for all drought/famine entries • Possibility to link to yearly figures* 5th TAG Meeting, WDC, 19/08/2005

6. (2) How to define an event? • New structure of EM-DAT is based on 3 entry levels: Event, Country, and Sources level + validation process => making the data public • No referent to determine what’s a drought event • Lack of clear methodology to encode drought event 5th TAG Meeting, WDC, 19/08/2005

7. (3) Gaps in data (killed/affected) • How get reliable data (deaths/affected) and reliable sources of information? • Common sources used reports number of affected (= receiving food aid) but rarely/never reports the number of people killed by drought or its associated disasters (e.g. Famine) • Or, at the opposite, figure on deaths are given but not on affected (e.g. North Korea famine) 5th TAG Meeting, WDC, 19/08/2005

8. (4) Reliable data • Sources used: Situation reports of IFRC, OCHA, IRIN, WFP reports • Other sources may be identified to help filling the data gaps • Inconsistencies in figures due to lack of methodologies in source reporting 5th TAG Meeting, WDC, 19/08/2005

9. (5) No existing database on Drought/Famine No referent database to complete and/or validate EM-DAT data (DFO for floods, USGS for earthquakes, WHO for epidemics, etc. …) 5th TAG Meeting, WDC, 19/08/2005

10. (6) Lack of clear methodology in EM-DAT • Lack of clear methodology to encode drought/famine events some inconsistencies in EM-DAT 5th TAG Meeting, WDC, 19/08/2005

11. (7) Famine Problematic • Famine not a hazard but rather a particular kind of disaster outcome (consequence of different natural and non-natural factors) • Difficulty to identify a predominate causal factors that lead to famine and there may be little connection to natural hazards events • Proposed solution: reclassification into drought event or complex emergencies 5th TAG Meeting, WDC, 19/08/2005

12. Famine Drought/Complex emergencies? Examples: • Swaziland - 2002: Heavy storms + severe heat waves => food shortages => threat of famine • Madagascar - 2002/2003 : Drought + political instability => malnutrition => famine situation 5th TAG Meeting, WDC, 19/08/2005

13. Proposed classification Disaster type: Drought Disaster sub-types : None Origin: Causal factors (e.g. Lack of rain, El Nino) Associated disasters (2): Food shortages, Forest fires Disaster type: Complex Emergencies Disaster sub-types: None Origin: Causal factors (e.g. Political instability) Associated disasters (2): Famine 5th TAG Meeting, WDC, 19/08/2005