Disaster Declarations Summaries

Version 1 Last Refresh 06-30-2020[lql3]

Entity Name	DisasterDeclarationSummaries [lql4]
API Endpoint	https://www.fema.gov/api/open/v1/DisasterDeclarationsSummaries [lql5]
Update Frequency[lql6]	R/PT20M
Program URL	https://www.fema.gov/disasters [lql7]
Category[LL(8]	Disaster Information
Keywords	disaster, declaration, fema, nemis, emergency
Deprecation Date
Deprecation Message
Deprecation New URL[LL(9]

Description

FEMA Disaster Declarations Summary is a summarized dataset describing all federally declared disasters. This dataset lists all official FEMA Disaster Declarations, beginning with the first disaster declaration in 1953 and features all three disaster declaration types: major disaster, emergency, and fire management assistance. The dataset includes declared recovery programs and geographic areas (county not available before 1964; Fire Management records are considered partial due to historical nature of the dataset).

Please note the unique structure of the disaster sequencing (due to a numbering system that originated in the 1950's-1970's):
0001-1999     Major Disaster Declaration
2000-2999     Fire Management
3000-3999     Emergency Declaration (Special Emergency)
4000-           Major Disaster Declaration

This is raw, unedited data from FEMA's National Emergency Management Information System (NEMIS) and as such is subject to a small percentage of human error. The dataset is primarily composed of historical data that was manually entered into NEMIS after it launched in 1998. The financial information is derived from NEMIS and not FEMA's official financial systems.

Due to differences in reporting periods, status of obligations, and how business rules are applied, this financial information may differ slightly from official publication on public websites such as usaspending.gov. This dataset is not intended to be used for any official federal financial reporting.

Full Data [lql10]

Format[LL(11]	Address/URL	Record Count[LL(12]	Approximate File Size[LL(13]
csv	DisasterDeclarationsSummaries.csv
json	DisasterDeclarationsSummaries.json
jsona	DisasterDeclarationsSummaries.jsona

Data Fields [lql14]

Name	Title	Type	Description	Is Searchable[LL(15]
disasterNumber	Disaster Number	number	Sequentially assigned number used to designate an event or incident declared as a disaster. For more information on the disaster process, //www.fema.gov
ihProgramDeclared	IH Program Declared	boolean	Denotes whether the Individuals and Households program was declared for this disaster. For more information on the program, please visit: //www.fema.gov
iaProgramDeclared	IA Program Declared	boolean	Denotes whether the Individual Assistance program was declared for this disaster. For more information on the program, please visit: //www.fema.gov
paProgramDeclared	PA Program Declared	boolean	Denotes whether the Public Assistance program was declared for this disaster. For more information on the program, please visit: //www.fema.gov
hmProgramDeclared	HM Program Declared	boolean	Denotes whether the Hazard Mitigation program was declared for this disaster. For more information on the program, please visit: //www.fema.gov
state	State	string	The name or phrase describing the U.S. state, district, or territory.
declarationDate	Declaration Date	date	Date the disaster was declared.
fyDeclared	Fiscal Year Declared	date	The fiscal year the disaster was declared.
disasterType	Disaster Type	string	Two character code that defines if the disaster is a Major Disaster Declaration (DR), Emergency Declaration (EM), Fire Management Assistance Declaration (FM), or Fire Suppression Authorization (FS). For more information on the disaster process, please visit: //www.fema.gov
incidentType	Incident Type	string	Type of incident such as fire or flood. The incident type will affect the types of assistance available. For more information on incident types, please visit: //www.fema.gov
title	Title	string	Title for the disaster.
incidentBeginDate	Incident Begin Date	date	Date the incident itself began.
incidentEndDate	Incident End Date	date	Date the incident itself ended.
disasterCloseOutDate	Disaster Close Out Date	date	Date all financial transactions for all programs are completed.
placeCode	Place Code	string	A unique code system FEMA uses internally to recognize locations that takes the numbers “99” + the 3-digit county FIPS code. There are some declared locations that don’t have recognized FIPS county codes in which case we assigned a unique identifier.
declaredCountyArea	Declared County Area	string	The name or phrase describing the U.S. county that was included in the declaration.
lastRefresh	Last Refresh	date	Date the record was last updated in the API data store
hash	Hash	string	MD5 Hash of the fields and values of the record
id	ID	string	Unique ID assigned to the record