Since 1988 the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) has been maintaining an Emergency Events Database - EM-DAT. EM-DAT was created with the initial support of the WHO and the Belgian Government.

EMDAT contains essential core data on the occurrence and effects of over 12,800 mass disasters in the world from 1900 to present. The database is compiled from various sources, including UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, insurance companies, research institutes and press agencies.

For a disaster to be entered into the database at least one of the following criteria must be fulfilled:

• 10 or more people reported killed
• 100 people reported affected
• declaration of a state of emergency
• call for international assistance

This database may be searched by country of origin or type of disaster and limited to a specific year or region.

EM-DAT is free and may be accessed from anywhere.