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About the EM-DAT Project

Additional Information about Our Partners and Us

1 - EM-DAT and CRED

The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED)

The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) is currently a research group that is part of the Institute of Health and Society (IRSS) based at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) in Brussels, Belgium. CRED was established in 1973 and has since become one of the world’s leading research centers working on the epidemiology of disasters.

CRED’s main focus is on studying the impact of disasters on populations and on ways to improve the effectiveness of disaster response and risk reduction. CRED’s research includes collecting, analyzing, and disseminating data on disasters caused by natural and technological hazards, within the EM-DAT project, as well as data on conflicts and other humanitarian emergencies.

CRED’s research findings are used to inform policy and practice in disaster management in Belgium and internationally. In addition to its research activities, CRED provides training, consultancy, and technical support to governments, humanitarian organizations, and other stakeholders involved in disaster risk reduction and emergency response.

The Joint History of CRED and the EM-DAT International Disaster Database

In the 1970s, the approach to disaster management was predominantly reactive, emphasizing immediate rescue and relief operations. Recognizing the imperative for a more proactive, informed, and systematic approach to disaster management, Professor Michel Lechat (UCLouvain) established the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) in 1973. One of the primary challenges faced by the emerging field of disaster epidemiology was the absence of comprehensive global data. A holistic perspective on disasters was essential not only to solidify the foundations of this nascent scientific domain but also to ensure evidence-based disaster management strategies.

In 1984, Debarati Guha-Sapir joined the UCLouvain CRED team and collaborated with Prof. Lechat to initiate the development of the EM-DAT database. This endeavor built upon the foundational efforts of a prior database project spearheaded by the United States Agency for International Development/Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA). CRED then embarked on the meticulous task of data aggregation from diverse sources, including UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, and media outlets. CRED has been managing the EM-DAT database since 1988. After Lechat, Prof. Guha-Sapir assumed the directorship of CRED in 1992, a role she held until 2021 when Prof. Niko Speybroeck took on the role of director.

As of February 2025, the USAID funding for EM-DAT came to a conclusion. We express our sincere gratitude to USAID for more than 20 years of generous, consistent, and meaningful support for the global public good that EM-DAT represents. The continuity of EM-DAT now depends on the engagement of its community of users and partners1. If you would like to support the project, see Ways to Contribute.

  1. Speybroeck, N., Noy, I., Kettner, A., Below, R., Messori, G., Thiery, W., Wathelet, V., Jézéquel, A., Delforge, D., & Van Niekerk, D. (2026). The Emergency Events Database, EM-DAT, must be preserved as a global public good. International Journal of Public Health, 71, Article 1609990. https://doi.org/10.3389/ijph.2026.1609990 ↩︎

2 - EM-DAT Partners

USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID/BHA)

From 1999 to the beginning of 2025, the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), part of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), supported the EM-DAT project. BHA, known as the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) until 2020, coordinated and provided humanitarian assistance to people affected by disasters and crises around the world.

Advisory Bodies

Following the end of the USAID funding, the governance of EM-DAT has evolved since 2026 (see the 2026 Roadmap for EM-DAT).

  • Scientific and Technical Advisory Group (STAG). From 1999 to 2019, Technical Advisory Group (TAG) meetings were held every two years on average as part of the evaluation of the USAID-BHA/CRED initiative, producing recommendations for the continuous improvement of EM-DAT. In 2023, the meeting was opened to experts from the scientific community and renamed STAG (Brussels, Belgium, 2023; Potchefstroom, South Africa, 2024). The annual STAG meeting has been paused since 2026. Reports and presentations are available on the STAG page.
  • Scientific Committee (SciCom). Established in 2023, the SciCom oversees the quality of EM-DAT data and control processes and meets online twice a year. It is being revamped to strengthen the scientific quality and consistency of EM-DAT data, open science practices, and FAIR data principles (see the SciCom page).
  • Advisory Board. Established in 2026 with a broader strategic mandate, the Advisory Board supports the search for sustainable funding, helps define and monitor the social and scientific objectives of the EM-DAT project, and strengthens coordination with global, regional, and thematic partners.

3 - Ways to Contribute

EM-DAT was supported by USAID/BHA from 1999 until early 2025. Since the end of this funding, the continuity of EM-DAT depends more than ever on its community of users and partners (see EM-DAT and CRED). You can help in various ways.

Support EM-DAT

Improve the Data

  • Report errors or missing entries (see Issue Reporting).
  • Share the results of your work, such as reports, publications, or datasets, if they could improve the quality and completeness of the EM-DAT database.

Collaborate With Us

  • Apply jointly to calls for research or technological development projects.
  • Do an internship, a thesis, or a PhD with or in partnership with CRED.

If you are considering a project that could directly benefit EM-DAT by improving global reporting of disaster-related impacts, we recommend that you contact the EM-DAT team to consider possible improvements to the database and thus add value to your results. For projects directly involving CRED, however, we cannot accept all the opportunities for collaboration offered to us. We prioritize projects directly related to disaster epidemiology or that allow us to improve the coverage and quality of EM-DAT data substantially. If this applies to you, do not hesitate to contact us.

4 - Contact

Address

CRED is part of the Institute of Health and Society (IRSS) of the University of Louvain (UCLouvain). You can reach us by post at:

Send Us an Email

contact@cred.be

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Newsletter Subscription

You can subscribe to our CRED Crunch newsletter to receive quarterly news about the EM-DAT project and theme-specific analyses of the database contents.