Disaster Risk Decision Resources for Developing Countries

by Prof. Dr. Tadashi Nakasu <tadashi.nakasu@gmail.com>

The Disaster Links Library (DLL) and the Global Disaster Research Navigator (GDRN)

Operations Research and Management practitioners in developing countries increasingly stand at the front line of disaster decision-making — optimizing emergency logistics and humanitarian supply chains, allocating scarce resources for risk reduction and post-disaster recovery, and designing capacity-building strategies under tight fiscal and institutional constraints. The quality of every such model, however, depends on the quality and reach of the information behind it. Yet the authoritative data, frameworks, and institutional knowledge on which sound disaster decisions rest remain scattered across hundreds of agencies, databases, and policy frameworks worldwide. For practitioners without dedicated research infrastructure, simply locating a reliable starting point can consume hours that should be spent on analysis and action. The two open-access resources introduced here were curated to remove that friction directly — to bring the most useful disaster risk reduction (DRR) resources within a few clicks of any OR worker, anywhere.

1. The Disaster Links Library (DLL) https://disasterlinklibrary.site/

The Disaster Links Library is a single-page, searchable web reference that brings together more than 500 carefully selected links across 32 thematic categories. It pairs real-time monitoring feeds (GDACS, USGS Earthquakes, NASA FIRMS, the National Hurricane Center) with historical loss databases (EM-DAT, DesInventar, NOAA Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters), policy frameworks (the Sendai Framework, IPCC, UNDRR), open data and GIS platforms (HDX, World Bank Open Data for Resilience, SEDAC), and hazard-specific portals covering earthquakes, floods, typhoons, droughts, wildfires, and epidemics, among others.

For OR and Management practitioners, the Library functions as an everyday decision-support entry point — a single door to the inputs that quantitative disaster work depends on: parameter estimation, risk and loss modelling, scenario analysis, and evidence-based briefing notes for ministries, local governments, and humanitarian partners. No account or registration is required; the page is intentionally light, fast, and usable from low-bandwidth settings. A guided introduction is available here.