The Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) is the world’s most widely used and trusted global disaster database, tracking both natural and technological catastrophes. It contains data on the occurrence and impacts of over 27,000 mass disasters worldwide, spanning from 1900 to the present day. The database is compiled from a diverse range of sources, including UN agencies, non-governmental organisations, reinsurance companies, research institutes, and press agencies.

EM-DAT is maintained by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), part of the University of Louvain (UCLouvain), and is made available as an open-access resource for non-commercial use.

For more than three decades, EM-DAT has served as an essential tool for research, policymaking, humanitarian operations, and risk management across the globe. The database offers a meticulously curated, globally comparable record of disasters, including their human and economic impacts. Yet this vital public resource now faces the risk of termination due to a lack of sustainable funding. As of February 2025, USAID funding for EM-DAT ended, following the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

In order for science programmes such as IRDR to fulfil its mission of mobilising science to reduce disaster risk, access to credible, long-term data is of paramount importance. If EM-DAT were to cease operations, the consequences would not be abstract—they would be practical, immediate, and damaging. 

In response to this crisis, an open letter has been launched to garner support for the database. The primary purpose of this letter is to raise awareness about EM-DAT's critical importance and to call for action to save it from closure. 

We encourage all members of the IRDR community to take a moment to read and support the open letter, and to share it with your networks and communities of practice: https://openletter.earth/the-worlds-collective-disaster-memory-must-be-preserved-66c88c44.