The European Federation of Geologists (EFG) has expressed its strong support for the continued operation and funding of EM-DAT, the International Disaster Database, which is facing an urgent funding crisis following the withdrawal of support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
On 16 July 2026, the EFG Board addressed a letter of support to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), highlighting the importance of EM-DAT to the geoscience, disaster risk reduction and wider scientific communities.
Representing more than 50,000 geologists across Europe, EFG underlined the close connection between the work of geoscientists and the information provided by EM-DAT. Geologists play an important role in understanding, monitoring and mitigating natural hazards, including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides and floods. Many EFG members working across academia, industry and public service have relied on EM-DAT as an authoritative and freely accessible source of information on disaster occurrence and impacts.
For decades, EM-DAT has been one of the world’s leading references on disasters and their human and economic consequences. Maintained by CRED at UCLouvain, Belgium, the database provides long-term historical information that supports scientific research, disaster risk assessment, humanitarian action and evidence-based policymaking.
In its letter, EFG warned that the loss of EM-DAT would have consequences extending beyond the disaster risk reduction community. Reliable and consistent historical disaster data forms part of a wider scientific and humanitarian ecosystem and is essential for understanding long-term disaster trends, assessing risk and improving preparedness.
Following the suspension of USAID support, the future of this open-access resource is now at risk. Users and members of the international disaster risk community have consequently launched an open letter calling for sustainable funding to preserve what they describe as the world’s collective disaster memory.
EFG fully endorses this initiative and calls on funding bodies and other stakeholders to recognise EM-DAT as an important public good and help secure its future through sustained investment. The Federation also encourages its National Association members and partner organisations to add their support and share the initiative within their networks.
Support the campaign
Members of the EFG community are invited to read and sign the open letter calling for the preservation of EM-DAT:
Read and sign the open letter: https://openletter.earth/the-worlds-collective-disaster-memory-must-be-preserved-66c88c44
Find out more about EM-DAT and its work: https://www.emdat.be/
