In an effort to promote greater participation in systematically reporting on disaster losses among Arab countries, the UNISDR recently convened a “regional meeting of experts in Cairo,” as reported on the UNISDR website. “Over 40 participants from 15 Arab countries [met] to discuss and exchange experiences on establishing national disaster loss databases. These disaster inventories enable countries to analyze disaster trends and their impacts in a systematic manner through the collection of historical data.”

The inventories are located on the DesInventar website which is described as “a conceptual and methodological tool for the generation of National Disaster Inventories and the construction of databases of damage, losses and in the general the effect of disasters.” The history of the concept of the databases goes back to 1994 when “the creation of a common conceptual and methodological framework was begun in Latin America by groups of researchers, academicians, and institutional actors linked to the Network of Social Studies in the Prevention of Disasters in Latin America (Red des Estudios Sociales en Prevención de Desastres en América Latina – LA RED).” The website includes a listing of 40 Disaster Type Definitions.

The groups “conceptualized a system of acquisition, collection, retrieval, query and analysis of information about disasters of small, medium and greater impact, based on pre-existing official data, academic records, newspaper sources and institutional reports in nine countries of Latin America.” Subsequently, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), UNIDSR and five other institutions and partners began supporting the efforts of DesInventar.

Currently 38 countries and five Indian states contribute to the databases, and it is to this database that the UNISDR meeting in Cairo hopes to recruit more Arab participation. “Currently seven out of the 22 Arab countries which are members of the League of Arab States, have either completed, or are in the process of completing national disaster loss databases.” There is strong indication from the meeting that that figure could double by the end of 2013. Mr. Amjad Abbashar, the Head of the Regional Office for Arab States, was quoted in the UNISDR story as saying, “The importance of evidence in disaster risk reduction is unquestionable. A good understanding of the nature and geography of disaster risks in Arab States is critical to implement interventions for disaster prevention and mitigation. If there is no systematic collection of disaster loss data, there is no way to learn from the past.”