The Canadian Disaster

Database

Joint Expert Meeting on Disaster

Loss Data

27 October 2016

RDIMS / SGDDI: 1995549

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.

1

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

Nu

mb

er o

f D

isas

ters

Disasters in Canada

Non-Natural (e.g. industrialaccident, 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, extremeheat)

2

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.

3

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.

4

Example of a CDD Entry

5

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.

6

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.

7

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.

8

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

9

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).

10

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.

11

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.

12