Desinventar

Desinventar is a conceptual and methodological tool for generating national disaster databases that provides access to disaster effects information at various scales. It is maintained by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).

Collection: `desinventar-events`

A STAC collection holds all Desinventar events. The example collection is at examples/desinventar-events/desinventar-events.json.

Name: Desinventar Event Data
Code: Desinventar
Source organisation: United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
Source code: UNDRR
Source Type: International Organization
Source organization email: desinventar@un.org
Source URL: https://www.desinventar.net
Source Data license: License
Source for: event, hazard, impact

Data

Desinventar data is available as downloadable ZIP files containing:

An XML file with event data (DI_export_{country_code}.xml)
Shapefiles for administrative boundaries
Additional metadata files

API Endpoints

Base URL: https://www.desinventar.net
Export endpoint: https://www.desinventar.net/DesInventar/download/DI_export_{country_code}.zip

The country code must be provided in lowercase (e.g., 'npl' for Nepal).

The zip archive contains the following files:

DI_export_{country_code}.xml: Event data in Desinventar XML format
district.shp/dbf/prj/shx: Shapefiles for disctrict administrative boundaries
region.shp/dbf/prj/shx: Shapefiles for region administrative boundaries
village.shp/dbf/prj/shx: Shapefiles for village administrative boundaries

XML Data

The XML file is structured as follows:

<DESINVENTAR>
    <datamodel>
        <!-- Data model definition -->
    </datamodel>
    <eventos>
        <!-- Event type list -->
    </eventos>
    <causas>
        <!-- Hazard type (Cause) list -->
    </causas>
    <niveles>
        <!-- Administrative level list -->
    </niveles>
    <lev0>
        <!-- Top-level administrative names list -->
    </lev0>
    <lev1>
        <!-- First-level administrative names list -->
    </lev1>
    <lev2>
        <!-- Second-level administrative names list -->
    </lev2>
    <regiones>
        <!-- Administrative boundaries (bounding boxes) for each administrative name -->
    </regiones>
    <diccionario>
        <!-- Taxonomy of impact categories -->
    </diccionario>
    <fichas>
        <!-- Event data -->
    </fichas>
    <level_maps>
        <!-- Shapefile listing -->
    </level_maps>
</DESINVENTAR>

Each disaster event is stored as a `<TR>` element within the `<fichas>` section:

```xml
<fichas>
    <TR>
        <serial>194</serial>
        <level0>GRD</level0>              <!-- Country code -->
        <level1>GRD01</level1>            <!-- Region code -->
        <level2>GRD01001</level2>         <!-- District code -->
        <name0>Grenada</name0>            <!-- Country name -->
        <name1>Saint George</name1>       <!-- Region name -->
        <name2>Saint George City</name2>  <!-- District name -->
        <evento>STORM</evento>            <!-- Hazard type -->
        <lugar>National - TS Ernesto</lugar> <!-- Location description -->

        <!-- Temporal information -->
        <fechano>2012</fechano>
        <fechames>8</fechames>
        <fechadia>3</fechadia>
        <duracion>0</duracion>            <!-- Duration in days -->

        <!-- Impact metrics -->
        <muertos>0</muertos>              <!-- Deaths -->
        <heridos>0</heridos>              <!-- Injured -->
        <desaparece>0</desaparece>        <!-- Missing -->
        <damnificados>0</damnificados>    <!-- Directly affected -->
        <afectados>0</afectados>          <!-- Indirectly affected -->
        <vivdest>0</vivdest>              <!-- Houses destroyed -->
        <vivafec>0</vivafec>              <!-- Houses damaged -->
        <evacuados>0</evacuados>          <!-- Evacuated -->
        <reubicados>0</reubicados>        <!-- Relocated -->
        <valorus>0</valorus>              <!-- Losses in USD -->
        <valorloc>0</valorloc>            <!-- Losses in local currency -->
        <nhectareas>0</nhectareas>        <!-- Crop area damaged (ha) -->
        <cabezas>0</cabezas>              <!-- Cattle lost -->
        <kmvias>0</kmvias>                <!-- Roads damaged (m) -->

        <!-- Additional information -->
        <magnitud2></magnitud2>           <!-- Hazard magnitude -->
        <glide></glide>                   <!-- GLIDE number if available -->
        <latitude>0</latitude>
        <longitude>0</longitude>
    </TR>
</fichas>

Event Item

A Desinventar event will ALWAYS produce an event STAC item.

Example event items for grenada export at DI_export_GRD.xml:

Here is the mapping of fields from Desinventar XML to STAC event items:

STAC field	Desinventar field	Description
id	level0 (lower case) + '-' + serial	Unique identifier combining country code and event serial
geometry	Based on shapefile data using level2/level1/level0	Geometry derived from administrative boundaries
bbox	Calculated from geometry	Bounding box of the event area
datetime	fechano, fechames, fechadia	Date of the event
start_datetime	fechano, fechames, fechadia	Start date of the event
end_datetime	fechano, fechames, fechadia + [duracion]	End date of the event
title	evento + lugar + date	Human-readable title combining event type and location
monty:episode_number	1	Set to 1 as Desinventar doesn't track episodes
monty:country_codes	level0	ISO3 code of the event country
monty:hazard_codes	mapped from evento	Hazard codes mapped from Desinventar event types (see mapping below)
monty:corr_id	Generated	Generated following the event correlation convention

Hazard Code Mapping

DesInventar uses its own hazard classification and must follow the 2025 UNDRR-ISC code as the reference classification for the Monty extension. The following table provides cross-classification across multiple systems:

DesInventar Event	GLIDE	EM-DAT	UNDRR-ISC 2025 (Reference)	Cluster	Description
ALLUVION	MS	nat-hyd-mmw-mud	GH0303	GEO-GFAIL	Flows (includes mudflow)
AVALANCHE	AV	nat-geo-mmd-ava	MH0801	MH-TERR	Avalanche
COASTAL EROSION	OT	nat-geo-env-coa	GH0405	GEO-OTHER	Coastal Erosion & Accretion
COLD WAVE	CW	nat-met-ext-col	MH0502	MH-TEMP	Cold Wave
CYCLONE	TC	nat-met-sto-tro	MH0306	MH-WIND	Cyclone or Depression
DROUGHT	DR	nat-cli-dro-dro	MH0401	MH-PRECIP	Drought
EARTHQUAKE	EQ	nat-geo-ear-gro	GH0101	GEO-SEIS	Earthquake
ELECTRIC STORM	ST	nat-met-sto-lig	MH0102	MH-CONV	Lightning (electrical storm)
EROSION	OT	nat-geo-env-soi	GH0403	GEO-OTHER	Soil Erosion
FLASH FLOOD	FF	nat-hyd-flo-fla	MH0603	MH-WATER	Flash Flooding
FLOOD	FL	nat-hyd-flo-flo	MH0600	MH-WATER	Flooding (chapeau)
FOG	OT	nat-met-fog-fog	MH0202	MH-PART	Fog
FOREST FIRE	WF	nat-cli-wil-for	EN0205	ENV-FOREST	Wildfires
FROST	OT	nat-met-ext-sev	MH0505	MH-TEMP	Frost (Hoar Frost)
HAIL STORM	ST	nat-met-sto-hai	MH0404	MH-PRECIP	Hail
HEAT WAVE	HT	nat-met-ext-hea	MH0501	MH-TEMP	Heatwave
LAHAR	VO	nat-geo-vol-lah	GH0204	GEO-VOLC	Lahars
LANDSLIDE	LS	nat-geo-mmd-lan	GH0300	GEO-GFAIL	Gravitational Mass Movement
LIQUEFACTION	EQ	nat-geo-ear-gro	GH0307	GEO-GFAIL	Liquefaction
SANDSTORM	VW	nat-met-sto-san	MH0201	MH-PART	Dust Storm or Sandstorm
SNOW STORM	OT	nat-met-sto-bli	MH0406	MH-PRECIP	Snow Storm
STORM SURGE	SS	nat-met-sto-sur	MH0703	MH-MARINE	Storm Surge
TSUNAMI	TS	nat-geo-ear-tsu	MH0705	MH-MARINE	Tsunami
TORNADO	TO	nat-met-sto-tor	MH0305	MH-WIND	Tornado

Note

All three classification codes (GLIDE, EM-DAT, UNDRR-ISC 2025) should be included in the monty:hazard_codes array for maximum interoperability. More specific hazard codes can be added following the characteristics of the event.

This mapping enables standardized hazard categorization while preserving DesInventar's original classification in the source properties.

Hazard Item

No hazard items are generated from Desinventar data as the hazard information is almost never available (magnitud2 field is empty) and when available, it is hardly standardized.

Impact Item

Desinventar events will produce multiple impact STAC items when impact data is available.

Example impact items:

EPIDEMIC deaths grd-200-deaths.json

The following table shows the mapping of Desinventar impact fields to STAC items:

Desinventar field	Category	Type	Unit	Description
deaths	ALL_PEOPLE	DEATHS	count	Number of deaths
injured	ALL_PEOPLE	INJURED	count	Number of injured people
missing	ALL_PEOPLE	MISSING	count	Number of missing people
houses_destroyed	BUILDINGS	DESTROYED	count	Houses completely destroyed
houses_damaged	BUILDINGS	DAMAGED	count	Houses partially damaged
directly_affected	ALL_PEOPLE	DIRECTLY_AFFECTED	count	People directly affected
indirectly_affected	ALL_PEOPLE	INDIRECTLY_AFFECTED	count	People indirectly affected
relocated	ALL_PEOPLE	RELOCATED	count	People relocated
evacuated	ALL_PEOPLE	EVACUATED	count	People evacuated
losses_in_dollar	TOTAL_COST_UNSPECIFIED	LOSS_COST	USD	Economic losses in USD
losses_local_currency	TOTAL_COST_UNSPECIFIED	LOSS_COST	Unknown	Economic losses in local currency
damages_in_crops_ha	CROP	DAMAGED	hectare	Crop area damaged
lost_cattle	CATTLE	MISSING	count	Number of cattle lost
damages_in_roads_mts	ALL_PEOPLE	DAMAGED	m	Length of roads damaged

For each available impact metric in the Desinventar data, a separate impact item is created with:

STAC field	Value	Description
id	{level0}-{serial}-{metric}	Unique ID combining event serial and impact metric
title	{event title} -	Title combining event name and impact type
monty:impact_detail		Object containing impact details
monty:impact_detail.category	From mapping table	Impact category code
monty:impact_detail.type	From mapping table	Impact type code
monty:impact_detail.value	From Desinventar field	Numeric impact value
monty:impact_detail.unit	From mapping table	Unit of measurement
monty:impact_detail.estimate_type	"primary"	All Desinventar data is considered primary

The geometry, bbox, datetime and other base fields are inherited from the source event item.