CRED Crunch, Issue no. 63, July 2021: Missing data on economic losses variables from EM-DAT
This EM-DAT compiles different disasters from all over the globe with varying information on different variables. The validity of research largely depends upon the quality of data collected. It is quite common to encounter missing data while conducting research based and this can have a significant effect on the conclusions that can be drawn from the data. For this exercise, the researchers extracted a dataset from EM-DAT, covering the years 2000 till 2020, and analysed the completeness of three economic variables: total damages, insured damages, and reconstruction costs in US dollars, against other variables like disaster type, disaster subgroup, and location of the disaster (Continent and Country).
After reviewing the overview of the dataset from 2000 till 2020, it shows that there are data gaps in terms of economic loss. The nature of disasters also seems to be playing a huge role in economic estimates in the aftermath of a disaster. In conclusion, a new comprehensive approach needs to be developed, in order to fulfill the current gaps in economic losses and the system of reporting the economic loss after a disaster in itself. Within the coming years, improving economic loss data is one of the priorities that the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters will focus on.
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