Disaster & Government Data

The system under investigation is the relationship between U.S. government representation and disaster events across the United States. This project created a comprehensive dataset of Presidentially and emergency declared disasters, including detailed information on hazard types and damages. The disaster dataset can then be paired with datasets on members of Congress, including their political party affiliation, elected position, and party majority status at the time of each event. By bringing together hazard and political data in a unified structure, this project provides a foundation for examining how governance and disaster response intersect.

The research problem addressed by this dataset is the lack of easily accessible, integrated data that connects disaster occurrences with political representation and decision-making structures. While disaster data and political data are often available separately, combining them in a consistent and analyzable format requires significant effort. This project reduces that barrier by standardizing and then allowing the user to linking the government data as need, which allows users to explore questions about disaster aid distribution, political influence on declarations, and regional differences in disaster response.

This dataset can be reused in a wide range of research applications. Academics and students can use it to reproduce existing studies on disaster policy or to generate new analyses on the relationship between political institutions and hazard impacts. The primary audience for this project includes academics, researchers, and students interested in disaster studies, political science, public policy, and data science. However, the dataset is also accessible to a broader audience, including policymakers and analysts, due to its clear structure and emphasis on usability.

What makes this project unique is its integration of disaster and political datasets into accessible resources. By aligning hazard event data with information about members of Congress and party control, the dataset enables users to conduct analyses that would otherwise require complex data merging and preprocessing. This ease of access encourages broader use, supports reproducibility, and lowers the technical barrier for researchers seeking to study the intersection of disasters and government.