Disasterviz.com shows the frequency and locations of natural disasters from 1970 to the present. The data comes from events designated as disasters by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), spanning floods, droughts, fires, ice storms, hurricanes, landslides, and other disasters. Users can select a combination of disaster types and map them to show how the landscape changes with different kinds of events. Some unexpected hotspots emerge: the largest number of flooding events occurred in a narrow corridor in Eastern North Dakota, and the ice storm capital of the country appears to be Baltimore County, Maryland. The visualization was created by Accenture Technology Labs, the research arm of the multinational consulting company.
Travis Korte
Travis Korte is a research analyst at the Center for Data Innovation specializing in data science applications and open data. He has a background in journalism, computer science and statistics. Prior to joining the Center for Data Innovation, he launched the Science vertical of The Huffington Post and served as its Associate Editor, covering a wide range of science and technology topics. He has worked on data science projects with HuffPost and other organizations. Before this, he graduated with highest honors from the University of California, Berkeley, having studied critical theory and completed coursework in computer science and economics. His research interests are in computational social science and using data to engage with complex social systems. You can follow him on Twitter @traviskorte.
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