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>>> natural-hazards-disasters 06/12/00 08:34 >>>
Hello,
Months ago at Natural Hazard Disaster list you were discussing disaster
data bases; "small" disaster; and also economic disaster losses. Let usshare
with your our experience with DesInventar, a methodology and
software to build disaster data bases applied in Latin America, developed
by the Network for Social Studies in Disaster Prevention in Latin America
- LA RED.
First, it is important to clarify that DesInventar methodology is
interesting in "socio-natural" and technological disasters, understood as
the adverse effects on lifes, goods and infrastructure (different to the
events or natural phenomena by themselves). In this way, both a landslide
in the Andes causing the destruction of 2 houses without deaths, and also
a frost of 2 months duration causing agriculture losses, are considered in
DesInventar methodology.
DesInventar has been applied approximately in 14 countries in Latin
America using several types of information sources. We can divide these in
two: the first one data from hemerographic sources, and the second one,
information produced and processed for government disaster assistance
entities.
We found out that hemerographic data is a valid and very useful source to
build the disaster occurrence history for countries and regions. They
have biasses and deficits in time, space and also in type of events
reported, depending on type an newspaper coberture. In seven countries in
Latin America LA RED has built disaster data bases with these sources and
the analysis show that "small" and "medium" disaster are approximately the
triple of "big" disasters.
But, also the very detailed databases shows that to classify disaster in
"small", "medium" and "big" depends on the type of damage or effects you
want to analyse. Depending on deaths the "small" and "medium" disasters
for a certain study period are the double of big disasters.
After 1995 six government entities began to apply DesInventar to
build databases with their own information. The Civil Protection National
System SINAPROC of Panama has been using DesInventar daily and
systematically for the past four years, having now 1,200 disaster reports
(in DesInventar data base), including every "small" disasters that occured
throughout the whole country.
At DesInventarīs site (www.desinventar.org) you will find the databases
from some countries of Latin America, the methodology, and also the querie
module software DesConsultar. The website is available in both English and
Spanish.
Cristina Isabel Rosales Climent
*****************************************************
Observatorio Sismologico del SurOccidente - OSSO
Universidad del Valle, Torre de Ingenierias, 3er Piso
TEL: +(57-2) 3301661 FAX: +(57-2) 3313418
AA: 25360
email alterno: [log in to unmask]
http://osso.univalle.edu.co
http://www.desinventar.org
Santiago de Cali - Colombia.
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