Assessing disaster impacts is the pathway to attain informed decision making to mitigate damages. Currently, these impacts are generally analyzed excluding the environmental consequences of disasters. Thus, this study proposes a novel quantitative method, named multi-dimensional damage assessment (MDDA), that integrates the disaster-related environmental impacts with economic and social losses. For this, Life Cycle Assessment was used to measure environmental impacts at the endpoint level for the human health area of protection. The unit of assessment used to merge the three damage dimensions was the disability-adjusted life year equivalent (DALYeq). The damages exerted by floods in Peru linked to El Niño in recent decades were selected as the main case study. Furthermore, other natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes) were included in the assessment for the sake of comparability. The results show that El Niño floods in Peru in 1982–83 and 1997–98 presented higher damage per capita, approximately 2.8 times higher, than the event in 2017. Additionally, the assessment showed that economic damages are the most relevant in El Niño floods, whereas social damages are those prevalent for earthquakes. The results demonstrate that MDDA is an effective measurement for the purpose of damage comparison and, therefore, to implement mitigation strategies. The proposed methodology will allow the development of disaster risk mitigation strategies that will cover all damage dimensions and enable the adoption of improved public policies. Finally, MDDA can be applied to compute any complex array of damages that humans may suffer or infringe as a consequence of their interaction with the environment.

评估灾害影响是做出明智决策以减轻损害的途径。目前，这些影响的分析通常不包括灾害的环境后果。因此，本研究提出了一种新的定量方法，称为多维损害评估（MDDA），将灾害相关的环境影响与经济和社会损失相结合。为此，生命周期评估用于衡量人类健康保护领域终点级别的环境影响。用于合并三个损害维度的评估单位是伤残调整生命年当量 (DALYeq)。近几十年来与厄尔尼诺现象相关的秘鲁洪水造成的破坏被选为主要案例研究。此外，其他自然灾害（例如，为了可比性，将地震）包括在评估中。结果表明，1982-83 年和 1997-98 年秘鲁厄尔尼诺洪水的人均损失高于 2017 年的 2.8 倍。此外，评估表明经济损失与厄尔尼诺洪水最相关，而社会损害是地震普遍存在的损害。结果表明，MDDA 是一种用于比较损害的有效测量方法，因此可以实施缓解策略。拟议的方法将允许制定涵盖所有损害层面的减轻灾害风险的战略，并能够采用改进的公共政策。最后，