Human losses due to climate-related disasters
An urgent call for quality control
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15548875 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Markus Enenkel (0000-0003-0461-1354, World Bank, corresponding author), Debarati Guha‐sapir (0000-0002-2735-6707, UCLouvain), Debarati Guha-Sapir, Benjamin F Zaitchik (0000-0002-0698-0658, Kennedy Krieger Institute) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 7 |
| Pages | 071001-071001 |
| Publication date | 2024-06-17 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/ad58fb |
| OpenAlex | W4399723523 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 10 |
Missing data in climate impact databases are a source of major bias in disaster impact analyses and can mislead policy making. EMDAT, an international reference data source on disaster impacts, is often used without much quality control or consideration of data gaps. Ignoring these gaps undermines both the evaluation of disaster risk management activities and the evidence base for global policies for early warnings and disaster risk reduction. EMDAT, considered a key data source on climate extremes and their human impacts, records casualty information for only one in three climatological disasters. In this study, we provide insights into the missing data, highlighting the importance of data quality control to account for bias. Understanding where and why data is missing provides insights into whether trends can be attributed to true progress in disaster risk reduction or are merely statistical artifacts. We also underline the pressing need for harmonization across other databases that are relevant for measuring the human impact of climate disasters and suggest new technologies to fill gaps. As major resource investments were requested during COP 28 (2023) to attenuate the impact of future disasters, more complete and convincing data on climate disasters and human impacts will be needed to better identify the efficiency of countermeasures
Business · Control (management · Environmental resource management · Quality (philosophy · Computer Science · Disaster Management and Resilience · Disaster Response and Management · Environmental Science
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |