Historical Inventory of Disasters in Costa Rica in the Period 1970-2020

Abstract

Disasters worldwide result in human and economic losses mainly in low- and middle-income countries. This is relevant for planning and decision making, which is why it is important to have timely information through disaster loss databases. DesInventar emerges as a theoretical and methodological tool, compiles historical loss records, and facilitates the analysis and spatial and temporal representation of hazards, vulnerabilities, and risks retrospectively and prospectively for risk and development management. In Costa Rica, this inventory is active with data from 1970 to the present. Is an online and freely accessible database. The article proposes to characterise the trends and behaviour of disasters in Costa Rica during the period 1970-2020 recorded in DesInventar. Of the total number of events registered (19.016), 80% correspond to hydrometeorological events, 13% to epidemics and human-technological events and 7% to geological events. A total of 1.555 deaths were recorded. The temporal analysis shows an upward trend in the number of events and in the number of people killed. This could be related to a more systematic counting of disasters and the increase of events because of climate change.

Keywords

• desinventar
• inventario histórico
• desastres
• base de datos
• riesgo