Ontological analysis and extreme events classification

The classification of extreme events is one of the factors that influence the organization, development and application of the risk management cycle. In this paper we discuss some shortcomings of existing classifications from the viewpoint of ontological analysis. The paper begins by introducing the notion of event as captured in the DOLCE ontology, and then looks at important distinctions that this ontological approach introduces. In the second part of the paper, we use this work to analyze the International Disaster Database for extreme events classification (EM-DAT) and to motivate some changes. In the concluding remarks, we point to other aspects that we deem useful for coherently evaluating and classifying (extreme) events and their interactions.