This field identifies a number, an acronym or code for the record, so that it can be identified. To enter the information, it is recomended to assign numbers in a sequential way, although it is not compulsory. This field may also include letters, hyphens and other typefaces. It is recommended that the number you assign corresponds to a characteristic of the original record (for example, in paper), or that you may transcribe on it, to facilitate future references or inspections. Observe that it is possible to have more than one record with the same serial number, meaning that the serial numbers are NOT unique.

It is composed of three fields and indicates the date of occurrence of the disaster, in arabic numbers. First the year, then the month and finally the day. The year must be written completely, for example: 1995, 1845, etc. The letters YMD (Year,Month,Day) remind you of the order in which to type the numbers. IMPORTANT: DesInventar doesn't require initial zeros for one digit months and days. If these are entered DesInventar avoids them without affecting the consistency of the information in the database. For example, if you type month 06, DesInventar will register only the 6.

Indicates the source(s) of information: the means of information, the preexisting database(s) and the entity or entities from which the information was obtained.

Its title varies depending on the names of the levels. It may be an administrative district, state, etc..., depending on the nomenclature for each country. This is A COMPULSORY FIELD for the entering of information to the record, because it is the minimum posible level of georeferentiation.

Mode of use: This is a multiple freechoice list. It can be used in several ways:

-With the up-key down-key arrows: you can vary the selection;

-With the first letter of each option: If there is more than one option for the same initial letter, this has to be pressed repeatedly until the one under search appears;

-With the cursor: The list opens by CLICKING on the down-key arrow at the right of the list. If it contains more elements than the ones displayed, a scroll bar appears so that all the options may be seen. You can select or un-select an option by just CLICKING on it.

Its title varies depending on the names of the levels. It may be a municipality, canton, etc..., and it corresponds to the second clasification level or political and administrative zonification. This field is NOT strictly compulsory but it MUST be typed when the disaster affects only one municipality. For example, in Mexico, if this level is not typed in , the program will asume that all the municipalities of the selected State were affected.

Mode of use: This is a multiple freechoice list. It can be used in several ways:

-With the up-key down-key arrows: you can vary the selection;

-With the first letter of each option: If there is more than one option for the same initial letter, this has to be pressed repeatedly until the one under search appears;

-With the cursor: By making a CLICK on the down-key arrow at the right of the list, this one opens. If the list contains more elements than the ones displayed, a scroll bar appears so that all the options may be seen. You can select or un-select an option by just making a CLICK on it.

Its title varies depending on the names of the levels in its country or region. It may be a municipality, canton, etc..., and it corresponds to the third clasification level or political and administrative zonification. This field is NOT stricly compulsory but it MUST be typed when the disaster affects only one municipality.

IF THIS FIELD IS NOT FILLED IN, DESINVENTAR WILL ASSUME THAT THE DISASTER AFFECTED ALL THE ELEMENTS IN THIS LEVEL WHICH BELONG TO THE PREVIOUS LEVEL. For example: Costa Rica, (Levels: Province, Canton, District), if this level is not typed in (district), the program will assume that all the districts in the canton chosen where affected.

Mode of use: This is a multiple freechoice list. It can be used in several ways:

-With the up-key down-key arrows: you can vary the selection;

-With the first letter of each option: If there is more than one option for the same initial letter, this has to be pressed repeatedly until the one under search appears;

-With the cursor: By making a CLICK on the down-key arrow at the right of the list, this one opens. If the list contains more elements than the ones displayed, a scroll bar appears so that all the options may be seen. You can select or un-select an option by just making a CLICK on it.

Select the type of event, as indicated on what follows, that refers to the disaster that you are inventorying. If the event that you want to include is not defined among the available, then POSTPONE the record filling and first create the event in the section called “ Administration of events”.

Mode of use: This is a multiple freechoice list. It can be used in several ways:

-With the up-key down-key arrows: you can vary the selection;

-With the first letter of each option: If there is more than one option for the same initial letter, this has to be pressed repeatedly until the one under search appears;

-With the cursor: By making a CLICK on the down-key arrow at the right of the list, this one opens. If the list contains more elements than the ones displayed, a scroll bar appears so that all the options may be seen. You can select or un-select an option by just making a CLICK on it.

If the information of the site is available, it indicates where the event happened. If the site corresponds exactly to the last geographical level of the ones reported, it is not necessary to enter it again. Normally, in this category, the exact location where the event happened is specified, in the municipality or geographical unit defined. It may be a town, a small town, a police post, farm or country estate, a spot, a place, a small village, a geographical feature, a river, etc.

Many times, in the process of development and generation of an event that ends in a disaster, it is difficult to distinguish between the cause and effect of the same phenomena. As a solution, each inventorying team is able to include notes about the causality relationships of an event under the field (Observation).

As indicated on what follows, it refers to the type of cause of the disaster being inventored. If the cause that one wishes to include is not among the defined ones, POSTPONE the record filling and first create the event inthe section called “ Administration of causes”.

Mode of use: This is a multiple freechoice list. It can be used in several ways:

-With the up-key down-key arrows: you can vary the selection;

-With the first letter of each option: If there is more than one option for the same initial letter, this has to be pressed repeatedly until the one under search appears;

-With the cursor: By making a CLICK on the down-key arrow at the right of the list, this one opens. If the list contains more elements than the ones displayed, a scroll bar appears so that all the options may be seen. You may select or un-select an option by just making a CLICK on it.

This is a field where you can indicate if you wish, more information about the selected cause.

For more information on the effects defined in Desinventar, look for the section called “ Methodological Guide to DesInventar ”.

This is a group of variables that correspond to the effects over people. For each variable enlisted it follows a text field, where the number or value for each variable has to be indicated. In front of this frame, there is a selection box which shall be marked only when there is knowledge of the existence of cases but their value unknown.

Effects over civil and services infrastructure. The selection box is marked if there were effects in any of these items.

Value of the losses caused by the disaster.

This is an indicative of the magnitude of the event. For more information on the scales and conventions on magnitudes look for the section called “ Methodological Guide to DesInventar ”.

Short description of other losses caused by the disaster.

This is a field that has a capacity of 750 characters, about 200 words.

IMPORTANT: Write in a continous way, without pressing the ENTER key to separate lines. This allows you to use the available space at its maximum capacity and will be useful for later developments with routines that make possible to automatically extract observations of specific interest from its whole database.

Keys to enter/query observations in DesInventar

According to the sequence of the fields in the record it is recommended to use the following keys to make observations (to facilitate the query entering, you can print or copy this list and keep it handy.)

Date of record creation (which is the date when the record was created) and the identification of the person who creates the record.

Scroll bar for records. For more information on this option go to the section called “ Record Search”.

Access to extended record. For more information on this option go to the section called “ Extended record”.