PREVIEW Global Risk Data Platform

Project description

This application is the new generation of PREVIEW initiated in 1999 by UNEP. It is now supported by UNEP and UNISDR. The data presented here is the results of updates from various data providers on past hazardous events as well as research made for the UNISDR Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015.

It covers tropical cyclones and related storm surges, drought, earthquakes, biomass fires, floods, landslides, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. The data collection is made via a wide range of partners (see section for data sources). The PREVIEW project was initiated by UNEP/GRID-Geneva in 1999, but benefitted from a large upgrades in 2009 and 2012.
The application is available through the following URL: http://preview.grid.unep.ch The outcomes presented in this application were developed by a large interdisciplinary group of researchers from around the world to make global disaster risk more visible “a key step towards mobilizing the political and economic commitment needed to reduce it.”

Methodologies on hazards modeling were reviewed by a team of twenty-four independent experts selected by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Data is gathered through a network of partners, e.g. the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Dartmouth Flood Observatory, the Smithonian Institute, the European Space Agency (ESA) and many others.

Data is being collected for the period 1975 to 2015 and updated once per year.

Models are applied to transform past hazardous events into spatial footprints. This process allows for the computation of human exposure to these events. By linking exposure with the associated losses, studies on human vulnerability can be made.

This data set has been used for many different reports.