Let's Talk about .. GLIDE

As same as other types of data, primary key is necessary to identify the unique item or instance. For the area of disaster, each disaster is also assigned unique identifier, so-called "GLIDE". GLIDE = GLobal unique disaster IDEntifier.

The format of GLIDE is AA-BBBB-CCCCCC-DDD-[EEE]; while AA is "Hazard Code", BBBB is "Year", CCCCCC is "Serial Number", DDD is "ISO Country Code", and [EEE] is "Optional State/Province Code"[1].

For example, 2011 Thailand Floods has GLIDE as "FL-2011-000135-THA".

GLIDE has been used proposed by Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC). For more information you can find from http://glidenumber.net

Ref.
[1] Asian Disaster Reduction Center. (2005). GLIDE (GLobal unique disaster IDEntifier). In T. Jeggle (Ed.) Know Risk. (p. 80) Leicester: Tudor Rose.