SEESAC Organizes a Workshop on Disaster Inventory Management System - DesInventar

On 10 September 2013, UNDP/SEESAC organized a Workshop on the implementation of the Disaster Inventory Management System (DesInventar) in the Republic of Serbia.  

DesInventar is a product of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) designed to help governments identify their disaster risk patterns and drivers, at both local and national levels, that way allowing for the creation of a well thought-out, evidence-based, governmental investment planning in cost-effective disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate adaptation measures.

In Serbia, DesInventar is implemented within the framework of the pilot project Disaster Loss Database Establishment in the Republic of Serbia.

The workshop focused on the results of the recently concluded effort to collect historical data on the effects and losses from disasters in the Republic of Serbia.

The Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia and the Sector for Emergency Management of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia (SEM) , agencies who had the lead role in the collection of the data, presented the results of the collection and the breath of the available information.

Based on the current status, the data collected is comprehensive and covers a historical period of the last 20 years during which 1,483 events have been recorded in the database.

Mr. Julio Serje, the UNISDR expert, praised the progress made and the quality of data collected in Serbia, qualifying it as outstanding in terms of both level of detail and level of precision. 

Mr. Serje presented similar initiatives currently ongoing in Albania, as well as models from other world regions. Furthermore, he emphasized the features, possibilities and the practical use of the collected data obtained through the DesInventar database.

In addition to the representatives of SEM and the Statistical Office – institutions tasked with adjusting the methodology of research and collecting data, the meeting was attended by their colleagues from a number of other relevant institutions participating in the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, analysts of specialized institutions, public utility  companies and representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff. 

Serbia is one of five countries in Europe which decided to pilot and adopt DesInventar, a project that in Serbia is funded by United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) through SEESAC.