Serbia - One Step Closer to Establishing the Historical Disaster Loss Database

An effort to collect all relevant historical data on losses and damages resulting from disasters on the territory of the Republic of Serbia has been piloted and completed. Serbia is now one step away from establishing the historical disaster loss database also known as Disaster Inventory Management System (DesInventar).

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. More importantly, based on the historical data entered, DesInventar allows for the creation of a well thought-out, evidence-based, governmental investment planning in cost-effective disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate adaptation measures.

Serbia is one of the five countries in Europe that decided to pilot and adopt DesInventar.

In Serbia, the implementation of DesInventar was funded by UNISDR through UNDP/SEESAC’s  project “Disaster Loss Database Establishment in the Republic of Serbia” while the Sector for Emergency Management of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia and Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, took the lead in collecting all the necessary historical data that will be used to populate DesInventar.

On May 31, Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia finalized the Questionnaire and Methodology Guide for DesInventar Serbia. During the first days of June, Statistical Office selected and trained a team of researchers tasked with collecting and analyzing data from relevant institutions in Serbia.

Collection of historical data started on 3 June when first entries were made into Serbia’s DesInventar database. By the mid August more than 11,000 records were reviewed and 1,483 relevant events recorded by different institutions of the Republic of Serbia were selected and entered in this new database. 

Now that the necessary data has been gathered, Statistical Office of The Republic of Serbia research team will analyze the collected data and test the established database.

DesInventar is one of several activities implemented by UNDP/SEESAC which support the efforts of the Serbian Government to strengthen the disaster risk reduction and recovery systems in the country.

The transformation of the disaster management system in Serbia is one of the more challenging areas of reform. The Government of Serbia has expressed a strong commitment to improving its disaster risk management capacities and has demonstrated its ambition to be a sub-regional disaster risk reduction leader in the Western Balkans. The disaster management system is being comprehensively re-built and Serbian authorities are investing enormous efforts to ensure that the new structures and systems are set-up and operationalized in an efficient manner.