Presentation made at the expert meeting organised jointly by the European Commission, the OECD and the project PLACARD, in Paris 26th -28th October 2016. For more information see www.oecd.org/gov/risk/joint-expert-meeting-on-disaster-loss-data.htm

1. The Canadian Disaster
Database
Joint Expert Meeting on Disaster
Loss Data
27 October 2016
RDIMS / SGDDI: 1995549

2. Purpose
● Highlight disaster trends in Canada.
● Discuss the use of disaster loss data in the Canadian context.
● Present opportunities for further domestic and international
collaboration.
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3. Disaster Trends in Canada
0
50
100
150
200
250
1900-09 1910-19 1920-29 1930-39 1940-49 1950-59 1960-69 1970-79 1980-89 1990-99 2000-09 2010-2019
NumberofDisasters
Disasters in Canada
Non-Natural (e.g. industrial
accident, train derailment,
chemical spill)
Seismic (e.g. earthquake,
tsunami, landslide)
Cold (e.g. avalanche, ice storm,
blizzard)
Water (e.g. flood, storm surge,
coastal erosion)
Heat (e.g. fire, drought, extreme
heat)
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4. The Canadian Disaster Database (CDD)
The CDD is a publically accessible web-
based repository of historical
information on Canadian from 1900-
present.
● The database provides 110 years of
data on disaster events in Canada.
● Over 1000 events are capture in the
CDD, as of 2016.
● The CDD tracks natural and human
induced disasters including conflict.
● The database also contains GIS and
linguistic filters to sort event data.
● All CDD data can be exported into
formats for GIS or statistical
analysis.
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5. Development of the CDD
The CDD was initiated over 30 years ago. Over this time the initiative has
moved through a number of distinct phases:
1990: Canada published Significant Disasters in Canada for public
awareness.
1997: An electronic version of the CDD was developed as a step toward a
comprehensive and reliable database, designed to:
● inform on post-disaster response and recovery spending;
● allow assessments of mitigation efforts; and
● act as a tool to increase awareness of disasters in Canada.
2010: The CDD undergoes a process of enhancement to provide updated
and validated information in order to:
● provide more reliable information;
● become a useful scientific tool; and
● be used to support decision-making.
2013: The geospatial element of the CDD is added to enable mapping of
data.
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6. Example of a CDD Entry
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7. Maintaining the CDD
● CDD event information is gathered on
a ongoing bases by a team at Public
Safety Canada.
● The data is collected from authoritative
sources (e.g. government reports,
insurance losses, and peer reviewed
research).
● On an ad hoc basis, CDD data is
further vetted by subject matter experts
from industry and academia.
● Updates to CDD events occur on an
ongoing basis, but given operational
needs, the CDD is not always up-to-
date with the most recent disasters.
● With enhanced coordination of in-
house knowledge and expertise, both
the quantity of events and the quality
of the information captured continues
to increased.
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8. Recent Data Inputs:
Disaster Financial Assistance
In the event of a large-scale natural disaster, when response and
recovery costs exceed what individual provinces or territories could
reasonably be expected to bear on their own, the Government of
Canada provides financial assistance to provincial and territorial
governments through the Disaster Financial Assistance
Arrangements (DFAA).
● The DFAA provides a single consistent data source for direct
federal disaster losses between from 1970 to present.
● This data is used as a proxy to help better understand broader
societal and indirect disaster losses.
● In 2015, the back catalogue of DFAA costs were made public
and harmonized with the CDD.
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9. Recent Data Inputs:
Catastrophe Indices and Quantification
● CatIQ provides insured loss information on Canadian disasters
through a subscription-based service.
● Public Safety Canada is working with CatIQ to integrate insured
losses into the CDD.
● Challenges in incorporating this data into a publicly accessible
database in a way that does not compromise the business
model of CatIQ.
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10. How the CDD has been used
The CDD can be used to support research, academic activities and decision-
making across a breadth of subjects and can be leveraged to support many
Emergency Management program deliverables as it:
● facilitates research activities that support a unified emergency management
system;
● contributes to the government’s capacity to manage emergencies;
● promotes public awareness of emergency management directly to
Canadian citizens and business;
● helps share information among other levels of government and emergency
responders;
● supports organizations in risk identification;
● monitors federal response to disasters; and
● supports understanding of risk associated with various types of disasters by
identifying economic and human impacts of disasters on Canadians
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11. Challenges
● Events prior to 1970 have limited data integrity.
● Indirect losses are not captured.
● Private sector losses are only available in annual aggregates.
● GIS specificity is limited (e.g. polygonal at political boundaries
rather than hazard zones).
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12. Success Factors
● Dedicated platform and IT system to house the information.
● Dedicated allocation of resources and personnel.
● Streamlined collection of information.
● Private sector and government (federal, provincial and
municipal) partnerships.
● Ensuring value to decision-makers and the scientific community
through reliability of data.
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13. Conclusions
● Canadian disasters are changing in frequency and magnitude.
As such, an ongoing structured means of tracking these
changes is key.
● The CDD offers a good foundation for this monitoring; however,
private sector and secondary loss estimates need to be better
captured in order to provide a full picture of disaster impacts.
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