Relief Web is an online service of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. It aggregates news releases, wire reports, studies, publications, maps and other resources that are relevant to the international humanitarian and disaster response community.

Since 1996, Relief Web has posted and categorized over 500,000 reports. Yesterday, it released a new feature called Content Trends, in which users can see how these reports evolved over time. These reports show where the humanitarian community are involved, and therefore is a proxy for where disasters–manmade or natural–have been most consequential.

The result is a fascinating visual-historical exploration of where the humanitarian community has focused over the past fifteen years. The darker the red, the greater number of reports published.

In 1996, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Russia, and Liberia were the three countries that generated the most number of reports published on Relief Web.

In 2000, it was Sierra Leone, Serbia and DR Congo (again)

In 2006, it was Sudan, Lebanon and DR Congo

And last year: Syria, Mali and DR Congo.

Check out Relief Web Trends http://trends.rwlabs.org/