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Asia-Pacific Expert Group on Disaster-related Statistics
DRSF DRAFT 2.0 (2nd consultation draft)
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Disaster-related Statistics Framework:
Handbook for National Compilation of Statistic for Disaster Risk Reduction
Contents Chapter 1: Executive Summary ............................................................................................................... 3
Background ......................................................................................................................................... 3
The Need for a Statistical Framework ................................................................................................. 5
Roles & Responsibilities ...................................................................................................................... 8
Components of A Basic Range of Disaster Related Statistics............................................................ 11
International Indicators for Sendai Framework and Sustainable Development Goals .................... 13
Chapter 2: Main Concepts for Measurement ....................................................................................... 15
2a) Identifying and counting disaster occurrences and magnitude ....................................................... 15
Hazards types ................................................................................................................................ 18
Magnitude ..................................................................................................................................... 20
Disaster Occurrences Time Series ................................................................................................. 20
2b) Disaster risk ..................................................................................................................................... 21
Background ................................................................................................................................... 21
Scope of measurement ................................................................................................................. 22
Estimating exposure to hazards .................................................................................................... 22
Hazard Mapping ............................................................................................................................ 23
Exposure Statistics ........................................................................................................................ 24
Vulnerability .................................................................................................................................. 28
Coping capacity ............................................................................................................................. 29
Geographic disaggregation ........................................................................................................... 31
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2c) Material Impacts and Economic Loss ......................................................................................... 32
Material Impacts ........................................................................................................................... 32
Economic Costs from Material Impacts ........................................................................................ 36
Economic Loss and Poverty .......................................................................................................... 40
2d) Human Impacts ........................................................................................................................... 41
Disaggregation of human impacts statistics ................................................................................. 43
Deaths or Missing ......................................................................................................................... 43
Injured and ill ................................................................................................................................ 44
Displaced Populations ................................................................................................................... 45
Impacts to livelihood ..................................................................................................................... 49
Disruptions to basic services ......................................................................................................... 50
Aggregated statistics on human impacts ...................................................................................... 51
2e) Disaster Risk Reduction Activities ............................................................................................... 53
Part 2: Guidelines for Implementation ................................................................................................. 56
Chapter 3: Statistical Classifications and Definitions ............................................................................ 56
Direct Material Impacts Classification .............................................................................................. 56
Critical infrastructures : elaboration for items [2.1.2], [2.1.3.1], [2.1.4] .................................... 62
Disaster Risk Reduction Characteristic Activities (DRRCA) Classification ............................................. 63
Disaster Risk Reduction Characteristic Activities (DRRCA) and Transfers .................................... 64
Chapter 4: Principles for Implementation ............................................................................................ 66
Statistical Coordination ................................................................................................................. 67
Legal framework ........................................................................................................................... 67
Confidentiality ............................................................................................................................... 68
Transparency and Accessibility to Data and Metadata................................................................ 68
Chapter 5: Basic Range of Disaster-related Statistics Tables & Data Sources ..................................... 70
Time period ................................................................................................................................... 71
Measurement Units ...................................................................................................................... 72
Geographic regions ....................................................................................................................... 72
Prioritization ................................................................................................................................. 72
Summary tables of disaster occurrences (A) ................................................................................ 75
Selected Background Statistics and Exposure to hazards (B tables) ............................................ 76
Summary tables of human impacts (C Tables) .............................................................................. 76
Summary tables of direct material impacts (D Tables) ................................................................. 77
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Summary tables of direct material impacts in monetary terms (E Tables) .................................. 77
Summary Tables of Direct Environmental Impacts (F Tables) ...................................................... 78
Disaster Risk Reduction Expenditure and Transfers (DRRE Tables) .............................................. 78
Data Sources ..................................................................................................................................... 79
Demographic and Social Statistics ................................................................................................ 79
Employment statistics and national accounts .............................................................................. 80
Data Collection During a Disaster Occurrence ............................................................................. 81
Population and Health Administrative Data ................................................................................. 82
Mapping and Environmental Monitoring ..................................................................................... 83
Measurement Units .......................................................................................................................... 86
Dwellings ....................................................................................................................................... 86
Critical Infrastructure .................................................................................................................... 86
Disruptions to Basic services from a Disaster ............................................................................... 88
Impacts to Livelihood ................................................................................................................... 89
Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 89
Chapter 1: Executive Summary
Background
1. ESCAP Resolution E/ESCAP/RES/70/2 on “Disaster-related Statistics in Asia and the Pacific”,
established the Asia and Pacific Expert Group on Disaster-related Statistics and requested it to a
basic range of disaster-related statistics along with guidance for implementation.
2. The Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics (FDES) defined “extreme events
and disasters” as one of its six core components of the framework with a reference to the
Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT). EMDAT is managed by the Centre for Research on the
Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) at the Université catholique de Louvain, with supported from
the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Belgian Government, and is currently one of the
most extensively utilized international databases of disaster-related statistics. CRED defines a
disaster as a rare and “unforeseen and often sudden event that causes great damage, destruction
and human suffering” and focusses mainly on statistics on impacts from relatively large disasters,
pulling data from a combination of official and non-official sources.
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3. The demand for internationally comparable methods for producing statistical evidence for disaster
risk reduction received renewed and increased attention internationally with the adoption by the
UN General Assembly of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and with prominent
inclusion of disaster risk reduction targets within the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
4. According to the Sendai Framework, as adopted by the UN General Assembly in December,
2016, a disaster is “a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society at any
scale due to hazardous events interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability and capacity,
leading to one or more of the following: human, material, economic and environmental losses and
impacts.” (UNGA, 2015).
5. Presently, countries have different practices with regards to applying this definition for compiling
data and preparing statistical tables, which makes it difficult to make comparisons between
countries or conduct time series analyses covering multiple disasters. This handbook can be
utilized to address challenges for creating coherence across data sources and to incorporate
statistics related to all types of disaster events (regardless of scale) in alignment with the UN
General Assembly definition, towards a nationally centralized and internationally-coherent basic
range of disaster-related statistics.
6. Recommendations in this handbook are aligned with a wide range of existing guidelines and
international standards adopted by the UN Statistical Commission, including recommendations
for population censuses, a classifications and other standards for economic statistics, including the
SNA and the System for Environmental-Economic accounts (SEEA). For development of this
handbook, the Asia Pacific Expert Group on Disaster-related statistics consulted with a broad
spectrum of disaster risk reduction and statistical expertise and with established groups and
forums, including: the UNECE Task Force on Extreme Events and Disasters, UN Expert Group
on Statistical Classifications, the Advisory Expert Group on National Accounts, UN Expert
Group on Environment Statistics, and the UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial
Information Management (UN-GGIM).
7. Key applications for disaster-related statistics are risk assessment and post-disaster impacts
assessments. Risk assessment is a continuous process because risks are dynamic. Moreover,
outcomes of disaster impacts assessments often will be important new information for future risk
assessment. Therefore variables used for vulnerability and for disaggregation of impacts statistics
will often mirror each other and risk assessment mechanisms need to be flexible for inputting new
data as it becomes available and, in particular, after a new disaster.
8. Usually, disaster risk assessment is primarily a responsibility of disaster management agencies (or
other related institutions). However, a lot of the data used for describing core drivers of disaster
risk (particularly exposure and vulnerability) are derived from established social and economic
statistics systems managed by national statistics offices. Also, data inputs used to describe and
predict hazards are derived from various other ministries and by the meteorological, geological,
and other geographic authorities.
9. Post-Disaster Needs Assessments (PDNAs) are conducted by the governments of affected
countries in collaboration with international agencies, particularly the World Bank. Guidelines for
conducting post disaster assessments and for using these assessments for developing disaster
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recovery plans have been developed and published by the World Bank’s Global Facility for
Disaster Risk Reduction (GFDRR), in collaboration with the European Commission and the UN
Development Programme. The basic framework for PDNA studies derived the Damage and Loss
Assessment (DALA) Handbook (ECLAC, 2003).
10. The DALA Handbook provides a globally recognized conceptual framework for assessment
studies, organized according to the different components or sectors in the economy. However,
PDNAs, following DALA methodology, are usually only conducted after very large scale disaster
events such as hurricane Yolanda in the Philippines, Thailand’s 2011 floods, and Cyclone Evan
that caused major economic destruction in Fiji and Samoa. The World Bank’s GFDRRR website
currently hosts post-disaster assessment reports for 49 disasters in 40 countries, including 15
cyclones and multiple droughts, floods, earthquakes, tropical storms, and 1 volcanic eruption
(Cape Verde 2014-15). The DALA methodology “focuses on the conceptual and methodological
aspects of measuring or estimating the damage caused by disasters to capital stocks and losses in
the production flows of goods and services, as well as any temporary effects on the main
macroeconomic variables.” (UNECLAC, 2003).
11. As a complement to these assessment guidelines, DRSF provides a comprehensive framework for
producing the underlying statistics used in assessments and other applications, including for the
relatively smaller scale but frequent forms of disasters. Implementation of DRSF can lead to
increased availability and comparability of statistical inputs for use in the assessments and an
improved alignment between PDNAs and the regular outputs of official statistical systems, such
as the System of National Accounts (SNA).
12. For development of this framework, the Expert Group studied the current practice in national
diasste-related databases from across the region, the current collection of NDAs and other
assessment studies available online, and conducted pilot studies in five participatin countries
(Bangladesh, Fiji, Indonesia, and the Philippines) as a way of evaluating the feasibility of the
recommendations under discussion. In addition, several international compilations of statistics or
reporting tools available for public access and were utilized by the expert group as important
references to define the scope for the basic range of statistics and develop this guidance in this
handbook including: UNISDR Global Assessment Report (GAR) Risk Data Platform,
DesInventar (Disaster Information Management System), a the UN Environment Global Resource
Information Database (GRID) network, and Munich Re Natural catastrophe statistics online
(NatCatSERVICE).
13. DRSF complements these international reporting tools and databases by supporting improved
comparability of official statistics at the national (or regional) levels through application of
harmonized approaches to measurement.
The Need for a Statistical Framework
14. The purpose of the DRSF is to help national statistical systems, particularly the national disaster
management agencies and national statistics offices, provide statistical information for informed
disaster risk reduction policies to achieve the goals and targets in the Sendai Framework on
Disaster Risk Reduction and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Disasters pose direct
threats to sustainable development and while many hazards, like earthquakes and floods, are, to
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some extent, unavoidable, many lives can be saved and huge damages can be avoided through
evidence-based disaster risk reduction, response, and recovery.
15. The ESCAP Resolution 70/2, establishing this Exper Group, recognized better use of
disaggregated data as a challenge for evidence-based disaster risk management policy, Stressing
the importance of disaggregated data related to disasters in enabling a comprehensive assessment
of the socioeconomic effects of disasters and strengthening evidence-based policymaking at all
levels for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation,
16. The demand for improvements to the quality and accessibility of basic statistics on disasters has
been acknowledged extensively elsewhere as well, for example in many reports on disaster risk
surveys of current data availability and national capacities. Research (e.g. World Bank, 2017) has
suggested, in the past, effects of disasters have been underestimated. The Report of the OECD
titled “Joint Expert Meeting on Disaster Loss Data: Improving the Evidence Base on the Costs of
Disasters: Key Findings from an OECD Survey” outlined some critical problems and limited
availability of internationally comparable statistics for many types of analyses on disasters,
including for measuring economic loss and for monitoring activities in disaster response and risk
reduction. The introductory paragraph of this report states:
“The rationale for the work on improving the evidence base on the cost of disasters
is grounded in the evidence that recent shocks from natural and man-made disasters
continue to cause significant social and economic losses across OECD countries. The
increase in damages is widely considered to outpace national investments in disaster
risk reduction, but this claim is more intuitive than supported by evidence. Indeed, there
is hardly any comparable data available on national expenditure for disaster risk
management and data on disaster losses is generally incomplete and thought to be
underestimated. Such estimates of the comprehensive costs of disasters are necessary to
analyse the benefits of past and future risk management policies. In particular, this
information is helpful to inform decision making and to develop cost effective strategies
and measures to prevent or reduce the negative impacts of disasters and threats. Policy
makers, at present, possess usually scattered and incomplete data resources, which are
not comparable across countries. To design policies to reduce losses from disasters we
need to know how such economic losses are counted.”- OECD, 2016
17. The Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015, predecessor to the Sendai Framework, emphasized
the importance to: “Develop systems of indicators of disaster risk and vulnerability at national and
sub-national scales that will enable decision-makers to assess the impact of disasters on social,
economic and environmental conditions and disseminate the results to decision-makers, the public
and population at risk.” (UN, 2005, p.9). Demands for comparable statistics for international
analyses of disaster risk has been updated and given increased attention with the adoption of the
Sendai Framework and SDG indicators. UNISDR, as the main coordinating agency for
international monitoring of the Sendai Framework target indicators and disaster-related indicators
in the global SDGs database launched an international monitoring process and online tool1 for
1 https://www.unisdr.org/we/inform/events/55594
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collecting figures for the agreed international indicators from official national sources,
particularly the disaster management agencies (NDMAs) and national statistical offices (NSOs).
18. Basic requirements for the international indicator monitoring systems include comparability of
concepts and methods for measurement across disaster occurrences. Thus, these systems depend
heavily on coordination and consistency at the national and local levels, which is accomplished
via the adoption and application of a commonly agreed measurement framework.
19. As development of centralized databases to a basic range of disaster-related statistics is a new
endeavour in nearly all countries, there is a strong demand for technical guidance and sharing of
tools and good practices internationally.
20. There are growing challenges to predicting disaster risk due to climate change and other factors of
the modern globalized world. However, from a technical perspective, there are also many
enhanced opportunities, like free availability of software and methodologies for making use of
new data sources, such as remote sensing, mobile phone datasets, and especially the use of GIS
for assimilation of data and production of new statistics. The World Bank’s Global Facility for
Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) stressed that “these advances and innovations create
a need for better standards and transparency, which would enable replicating risk results by other
actors, reporting on modelling assumptions and uncertainty, and so forth.”
21. Geographic referencing is a crucial element for compilation of nearly all the components of the
basic range of disaster-related statistics. One of the advantages of working with data in
geographic information system (GIS) software is flexibility to present statistics at different scales,
and with instant combinations of layers of variables, depending on the demand. Agencies
responsible for the underlying statistics should develop a common framework for utilizing this
flexibility and building the statistics while also maintaining standards to ensure correct
interpretation of these statistics and to maintain a minimum quality assurance in terms of
reliability, accuracy, and relevant protections of confidentiality of the statistics at different scales,
depending on their use in disaster risk reduction.
22. A crucial part of the Expert Group’s approach in developing this guidance was extensive study of
existing practices within leading national agencies in their production and use of statistics.
Disaster statistics is a unique domain in several ways. Each hazard or disaster is different,
random and creates significant changes to the social and economic context for affected regions.
Disaster risk is unevenly dispersed within countries, across the world and over time. To identify
authentic trends, rather than random fluctuations or effects of extreme values, much of the
analyses of disaster related statistics requires a very long time series. This puts an exceptionally
high value for longitudinal coherence of measurement for disaster statistics.
23. Statistics provide the context and a broad vision for comparisons and for a deeper understanding
of risk across individual and multiple hazards. Harmonized statistics are used to inform
international support and boost solidarity, not only for responding to major disasters but also for
addressing risks on a continuous basis and with support from international cooperation.
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Roles & Responsibilities
24. The main users of this framework are expected to be national disaster management agencies and
national statistics offices, but there are a diverse range of other national stakeholders involved in
collections of relevant data , such as ministries of environment, mapping agencies and land
managed authorities, ministries of finance, ministries of health, economic and social development
policy makers, meteorological organizations, and so on. Implementation of a statistical framework
should help national agencies to define and implement clear requirements, roles and
responsibilities across government regarding collection and application of data, and how it is
made accessible for policy-relevant research and monitoring purposes.
25. A statistical framework is a tool to identify opportunities to utilize existing data sources within the
national statistical system (NSS). In some cases adaptions to the sources or to the way that data
are shared between agencies will be need to fit the purposes for disaster risk reduction statistical
analysis. It is usually more efficient to adapt and reuse existing streams of data than to establish
new ones in response to each new question or indicator.
26. Through implementation of DRSF it will be possible to: (i) improve production of statistics from
existing databases and (ii) bridge the representations of the realm of disasters and risk reduction
on the one hand, with the socio-economic statistics on the other. The bridge between the two
domains of statistical information is essential for producing indicators. This bridge requires
strong partnership between disaster management agencies, national statistical offices, and other
official sources of relevant data and a strong mutual understanding of core concepts and the
methods for applying these concepts to practice for producing coherent statistics.
Figure 1: Statisics and Policy Planning for Disaster Risk Reduction
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27. The scope for demands for a basic range of disaster-related statistics and indicators rests within a
broader context, which includes operational databases that are used for emergency response.
Implementation of DRSF will allow governments to produce coherent information and to make
use of the same instruments and collections of data for multiple purposes.
Figure 2: Uses of disaster-related data collections
Data Collection
Infrastructure Development Risk Assement Exposure
Resilience of Communities Post Disaster Assesment Hazard
Land use planning Indicators/Monitoring Vulnerability
Poverty Reduction Empirical Research Coping Capacity
Economic Development Planning Disaster Impact
DRR Activity
Operational Uses
Emergency Response
Evacuations
Early Warning Systems
Disaster Risk Management Planning
Summary & Time Series Statistics
Integrated Sustainable
Development Policy
28. The ideal scenario for disaster-related statistics, as described within the Sendai Framework, is
that, with improved availability of statistics, disaster risk reduction becomes an integrated part of
the broader sustainable development planning of the country at national and local levels. Some
examples are integrating disaster risk assessments into land use planning and building resilience
to disasters as a part of the broader strategy against multi-dimensional poverty.
29. The risk management cycle is a useful concept for understanding the demands for statistics in
relationship to various perspectives of decision-makers. While there are some overlapping
statistical requirements to support decision-making across the different phases of the cycle of
disaster risk management, there are also important differences.
30. During an emergency, responding agencies have special and relatively extreme requirements in
terms of timeliness and level of geographic detail required for the information to serve operational
purposes and inform an efficient and well-coordinated emergency response. The priority is to save
lives and minimize other damaging effects on the population, rather than on accuracy,
comparability between sources, or other qualitative characteristics of the figures.
31. In contrast, the reliability and comparability of statistics becomes crucial for risk assessment and
for designing prevention and preparedness programmes after disasters, especially when there is a
need for comparisons over time. Table 1 provides an overview of issues faced by decision-
makers and a sample of the demand for statistics. in each phase of the risk management cycle.
Figure 3: Cycle of Disaster Risk Management
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Reference: this diagram adapted from Thailand Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM)
Table 1: Statistics in Disaster-risk reduction decision making
Typical issues in the different phases of disaster risk
management
Typical decisions and plans to be made
Sample of use of statistics
Peace time: Risk Assessment Disaster risks can be estimated but
are not known
Development investments should be
informed by risk profiles
Use of best available knowledge so
that development does not
exacerbate existing ( and or create
new) disaster risks
Prioritizing investments in
risk reduction
How to invest in development
while avoiding new risks
Dynamic hazard profiles
(magnitude, temporal and spatial
distribution)
Vulnerability and baseline of
exposure: (demographic and,
socioeconomic statistics) and
baseline of exposure in areas prone
to hazards Learning from experience of past
disasters, e.g. effectiveness of early
warning systems
Integrating historical disaster
impacts statistics to update hazard
profiles and vulnerability
assessments
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Peace time: risk reduction, mitigation and
preparedness Risk Profiles are changing as new
information becomes available and
development in potentially
vulnerable areas takes place
Early warning systems and other
monitoring systems, where
available, are continuous delivering
information on risks and possibilities
for mitigating impacts
Introduction of new measures
to reduce disaster risk
Introduction of mechanisms
to improve or ensure
sufficient early warning and
adequate preparedness
How to invest in risk
reduction measures as an
integrated part of the broader
poverty reduction and
sustainable development
initiatives
Whether and how to
discourage development in
hazardous areas
Scale, locations and other
characteristic of investment in
disaster risk reduction
Signals of slowly developing risks
approaching thresholds to a
potential disaster
Level of awareness, preparedness,
and investment against disasters by
households, businesses, and
communities
Identifying factors that cause and or
exacerbate disaster risks
Response Imperative is to act quickly and
efficiently to save lives and mitigate
unnecessary suffering
Sufficient resources to put crisis
under control
Urgent demand to meet
overwhelming needs for places
where vital systems and delivery of
basic resources were affected
Determine the magnitude of
the disaster and prioritize
needs for emergency relief
How to make the response the
most efficient
How to manage needs given
impacts to local supplies of
goods and services (how to
address temporary
interference to local services
supply)
How to mount emergency
response while also putting in
place requirements for
medium and long term
recovery
Disaster occurrence, including
temporal, and spatial spread of the
event
Disaster type and characteristics of
impacts, e.g. rapid or slow onset,
intensive or extensive impacts, etc.
Immediate indication of impacts on
population, damage, losses, and
disruption of basic services
Recovery needs, which potentially
could be increasing
Disaster response: who, what,
where, when, and how much
Medium and long term recovery Unaddressed humanitarian needs
Risk that fragile communities could
regress into a new emergency crisis
if recovery needs are not met
Less spotlight on initial response
may translate to less resources for
recovery
Often a normal development policy-
planning cycle resumes with many
requirements but, due to disaster,
less available resources
How to prioritize recovery of
economic sectors and
determination of appropriate
scale of re-building effort in
affected location
How to determine appropriate
level of investment required
for complete to recovery from
impacts for disasters:
Returning to consideration of
future risk identification and
mitigation (see above)
Comprehensive and credible post-
disaster accounting for damage,
losses, and disruption of functions /
services
Magnitude of requirements for
economic recovery (e.g. scope of
direct and economic impacts)
Assessing effectiveness of coping
mechanisms of communities,
localities and sectors
Identification of new vulnerabilities
created by the disaster
Components of A Basic Range of Disaster Related Statistics
32. The DRSF provides recommendations on methodologies for how to apply internationally agreed
concepts and terminologies for disaster risk reduction in relation to production of official
statistics. This includes technical recommendations on estimation for a basic range of disaster-
related statistics used for multiple purposes, including calculation of indicators used for national
and international monitoring.
33. Figure 1 shows the main components for the basic range of disaster-related statistics. Indirect
economic impacts are estimated by using statistics from the basic range in modelled scenarios or
other types of estimation for long-term impacts to economie. Thus indirect impacts estimation is
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one of the many applications (rather than a core component) of the basic range of disaster-related
statistics. All other elements of Figure 4 can potentially be measured or estimated from direct
observations and incorporated into a centralized database of disaster-related statistics.
Fig.4: Components of the DRSF
34. Figure 4 can be read like a timeline from left to right. First, there are statistics on disaster risk,
before the hazard occurrence. A threshold is passed at the moment of a call for emergency, at
which point data begin to be collected on the disaster occurrence and its impacts on people,
infrastructure, and the economy. Disaster risk reduction activities occur on a continuous basis
(like other activities of an economy). Indirect impacts, generally are experienced and estimated
during a period of time after the emergency response needs have already been met.
35. This handbook describes conventions and technical guidance for applying the agreed international
concepts and definitions of disaster risk reduction into the practice of statistics collection and
reporting. This includes, for example, guidance on measurement units, classifications, and other
conventions for compilers of statistics to produce coherent statistics on disasters over time and
across countries.
36. Case studies showing development of compilations of summary statistics, aggregated across
multiple disaster occurrences are presented as examples and to share experiences, with an aim
towards providing illustrations of the concepts and sample outputs, and rationale for
recommendations provided in the text.
37. Statistics in this framework must be derived from a wide variety of sources. Important data
sources for compiling the basic range of disaster-related statistics are: population and housing
census, household surveys, monitoring data from geophysical, meteorological and geographic
organizations, the national accounts and its sources, disaster management agency assessments
and monitoring, ministry of environment assesments and monitoring, administrative records of
health and safety institutions, administrative records from emergency response and recovery
Emergency
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operations, administrative records on population, health and other demographic issues (e.g civil
registration systems) and, where possible, specialized surveys targeting disaster-affected
households and businesses.
38. Background statistics, such as GDP, basic demographic statistics, indicators of poverty, and
environmental condition, are essential information for providing context to statistics on disaster
impacts, or the risk of impacts, in order to develop meaningful indicators for tracking progress,
making comparisons, and developing policies.
International Indicators for Sendai Framework and Sustainable
Development Goals
39. In 2015, global leaders adopted landmark agreements, establishing new international goals and
targets, in the forms of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
40. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development established 17 Goals and 169 targets for the
eradication of poverty and the achievement of sustainable development. In March 2016, the 47th
Session of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) agreed to a Global Indicator
Framework, specifying 230 indicators for measuring progress towards the Sustainable
Development Goals. In the SDGs, there are 11 disaster-related targets, spanning several of the 17
goals, and covered by 5 indicators (see Annex). By decision of the inter-agency expert group
(IAEG) on SDG indicators, the definitions for these indicators are aligned with indicators adopted
for interntaional monitoring of the Sendai Framework.
41. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction was adopted at the Third UN World
Conference in Sendai, Japan, in March 2015. It is the outcome of stakeholder consultations
initiated in March 2012 and inter-governmental negotiations from July 2014 to March 2015,
supported by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) at the request of
the UN General Assembly. Furthermore, after adoption of the Sendai Framework, an
intergovernmental process was established to reach agreement on terminologies and indicators for
monitoring the targets of the Sendai Framework. This intergovernmental process completed in
December, 2016 with a report2 endorsed by the UN General Assembly. In order to help ensure
cohesion between national compilations of official statistics with demands for global indicators,
the terminologies used in the DRSF are aligned with this Sendai Framework Report.
42. The Sendai Framework establishes four priorities for action: (1) Understanding disaster risk, (2)
Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk, (3) Investing in disaster risk
reduction for resilience, and (4) Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response and to
“Build Back Better” in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction. The Sendai framework
contains a statement of outcome, for the next 15 years, which is to achieve a substantial reduction
of disaster risk and losses, to lives, livelihoods and health and to the economic, physical, social,
cultural, environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries. The proposed
targets for monitoring progress in the framework are:
2 A/71/644: “Report of the open-ended intergovernmental expert working group on indicators and terminology relating to disaster risk reduction”
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1. Reduce global disaster mortality
2. Reduce the number of affected people
3. Reduce direct disaster economic loss
4. Reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services, among them
health and educational facilities
5. Increase the number of countries with national and local disaster risk reduction strategies
6. Enhance international cooperation
7. Increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk
information
43. A collection of 27 independent (excluding composite) indicators were adopted for international
monitoring of all seven Sendai Framework targets.3 Monitoring the 7 targets in the Sendai
Framework requires, as a minimum, a system of compilation of good quality basic statistics on
disaster risk, disaster occurrences, direct impacts and commitments to interventions for reducing
risks. The basic requirements draws from multiple data sources and across multiple governmental
agencies and should cover, in principle, a complete range of different types of disasters relevant to
the country.
44. The specifications for the Sendai Framework and SDG Indicators provide the common baseline
reference on the scope and prioritization for the high-level international demands for statistics.
However, all countries are starting from very different contexts in terms of the nature (e.g. extent
and intensity) of their baseline disaster risk factors. Thus, implementation of DRSF is a tool to
support national agencies with development of statistical compilations with a broader scope and
broader range of applications, including nationally designed indicators and various forms of
statistical analyses as required for decision-making at the national and local levels.
45. Diversity in current practices combined with the demand for international comparisons and time
series indicators creates the need for clear guidance on practical measures and, in some cases,
conventions for simplifying and harmonizing measurement. Improved coherence and
transparency of approaches to measurement of basic disaster statistics is necessary for analyses of
the critical drivers of risk and the differences in trends for the internationally-adopted indicators.
Harmonization in the underlying statistics used in indicators is also needed to distinguish between
authentic examples of progress from random variations in the time series or differences cause
mainly by discrepencies in scope of measurement.
46. Statistical databases are summaries of broader collections of raw data gathered from a number of
sources, including the operational databases used for emergencies, surveys, censuses, monitoring
systems, and administrative records. Indicators draw from these databases to provide targeted
information to policy-makers and to the general public to help inform disaster risk reduction and
to identify if and where progress is being made. Where possible, indicators should also be used to
identify and encourage actions to reduce risk and create sustainable development before
disasters.
47. DRSF rests in the middle of the theoretical information pyramid. The production of statistical
tables inevitably involves some degree of aggregation and summary of basic microdata, but the
statistics framework also needs to be relatively complete and flexible for calculating a broad range
of indicators, as well as for facilitating other types of analyses.
3 See complete list in Annex
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Figure 5 : Information pyramid for disaster risk reduction
Chapter 2: Main Concepts for Measurement
2a) Identifying and counting disaster occurrences and magnitude
1. A disaster is:
“A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society due to hazardous events
interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability and capacity, leading to one or more
of the following: human, material, economic and environmental losses and impacts.” -The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), adopted by the UN General
Assembly (December, 2016)
2. DRSF applies the above definition but elaborates some criteria for producing harmonized statistics
on occurrences and direct impacts of disasters. For each disaster occurrence, there are at least four
characteristics of the event that should be recorded. These characteristics of disasters are used for
making connecting with other variables, including the statistics on disaster impacts. The four
characteristics are:
a. Timing (date, year, time and duration of emergency period)
b. Location and scale(region(s)/province(s)/country(ies) and affected area raster or shapefile)
c. Hazard type (e.g. geological, meteorological, etc.)
d. Magnitude of impacts (large, moderate, small)
3. In addition, each disaster occurrence is given a unique identifier code (e.g. a numeric code) for
ease of reference and querying within a multi-disaster occurence database.
4. There are international initiatives for unique naming and coding of hazards, which can be utilized,
where applicable, by the national agencies, such as (e.g.) the GLobal IDEntifier number (GLIDE)
Indicators
Summary statistics (DRSF)
Sources of basic data (censuses, surveys, admin. records, data
used for operartional response)
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initiative promoted by promoted by CRED, OCHA/ReliefWeb, OCHA/FSCC, ISDR, UNDP,
WMO, IFRC, OFDA-USAID, FAO, La Red and the World Bank.4
Figure 5: Criteria and Statistical Requirements for Disaster Occurrences
5. From the international definition of a disaster, two basic criteria can be derived for measurement
purposes (see figure 5): observation of significant impacts (“human, material, economic and
environmental losses and impacts”) and an emergency declaration (“A serious disruption of the
functioning of a community or a society”). These criteria are meant to help compilers of the
statistics to establish a clear scope for applying the agreed international definition for a disaster
into the practice of measurement with an acceptable degree of comparability. Although each
disaster occurrence is unique and they are happening in different social, economic and political
contexts, application of these two basic criteria can help to improve the conisistency in coverage
for a basic range of disaster-related statistics across countries.
6. An emergency declaration (at local, regional or national level) is the signal of an abnormal
disruption. Emergency declarations are called by officially responsible agencies and are the
catalysts that spur collection of data. Emergency declarations can take various forms depending
on the type of hazard and laws and administrative policies of the responsible government. The
differences in laws and administrative polices across countries are prerogatives of the governing
authorities and, generally, do not significantly affect the statistics.
4 http://www.glidenumber.net/glide/public/about.jsp
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7. Sometimes, e.g. for slowing evolving risks leading to disaster, the emergency response may take
the form of initiating collection of data for monitoring the situation, followed by implementation
of a series of preventative measures (such as evacuations or other responses to boost coping
capacity and minimize impacts).
8. Other emergencies, especially sudden or unexpected hazards, are more explicitly represented by a
formal and public declaration and request to mobilize resources for response. The scale of
emergency declaration (local, regional, national or international) is a useful indication for
assessing and categorizing the scale of the disaster occurrence.
9. The statistical requirements at the bottom of Figure 5 should be developed and maintained in
centralized databases for each country and for each identified disaster occurrence. While the
more common statistical demands in relation to individual occurrences of disasters is information
on impacts, counting and describing disaster occurrences according to their basic characteristics
has some important analytical applications as well. Counts of occurrences provide the context for
analyzing disaster impacts statistics or for reviewing the trends in occurrences over a very long
time period (e.g. 50-100 year trends), which can be used as inputs for risk assessment. Counts of
disaster occurrences also provide the basis for calculating statistics on intensity of impacts from
disaster occurrences over time.
10. It is of central importance that the counts and descriptive characteristics of disaster occurrences
are produced consistently over time (i.e. across occurences). If the scope for incorporating disaster
occurrences into outputs of official statistics is variable over time, than there will be fundamental
inconsistencies in the scope of aggregated statistics on impacts.
11. Such inconsistencies are common in the current national and international compilations for
disaster occurrences. A comparison of simple counts of disaster occurrences by hazard types for
any given country from different databases (e.g. a comparison between international sources and
the records of an official national agency) reveals large differences in the numbers of events that
are recognized as the basis for statistics like number of deaths or economic impacts. Sometimes
inconsistencies are caused by errors but there can also be valid conceptual differences in scope of
measurement between databases, which will be improved through implementation of a common
framework.
12. There will be borderline cases and small differences in interpretations for special cases, which can
be accepted, but an overall goal for disaster occurrence statistics is to minimize the
inconsistencies. There are two primary sources for conceptual inconsistencies for counting
disasters (and their impacts) in the current national and international practices. The first source is
a different scope of the hazards that are accounted as a disaster. The second source is use of a
minimum scale of impact threshold.
13. Impact thresholds are an application of basic statistics on disaster for analysis and comparisons.
Thresholds are used as a tool to put practical limits on the scope for disaster impacts statistics and
for time series or multi-country analyses. For example, within EMDAT, minimum threshold
criteria were defined so that the compilations focus primarily on moderate to large-scale
emergencies. For the primary sources and in the official national databases, there is no need to
define a minimum scale of impact threshold prior to analysis. For databases, compilations need
only to apply the criteria for a disaster occurrence in diagram 1, i.e. at least some impact was
recorded. Regardless of how minor the impacts, there must be at least some objectively observed
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social-economic impact to qualify as a disaster.5 In this way, the relatively small-magnitude
disaster events are included within the statistical databases and it is up to users of these statistics
(including CRED and others) to define thresholds or other criteria, as needed, to match their own
needs. In general, producers of official statistics should avoid introducing analytical criteria or
other potential biases into the primary database so that a broader range of potential applications of
the statistics will be feasible from the official data sources, through the subsequent grouping,
threshold filtering, or other analyses of the basic data.
14. In principle, collection of statistics related to disasters are applicable for disasters of any
magnitude. Paragraph 15 of the Sendai Framework states that it applies “to the risk of small-scale
and large-scale, frequent and infrequent, sudden and slow-onset disasters caused by natural or
man-made hazards, as well as related environmental, technological and biological hazards and
risks. It aims to guide the multi-hazard management of disaster risk in development at all levels as
well as within and across all sectors.” Thus, there is a clear demand for a nationally coherent
measurement framework for application at different scales.
Hazards types
15. Current practices for scope of coverage of hazard types are extremely variable. Many countries
have an officially adopted list of hazard types and definitions inscribed into the national laws for
disaster responses. In these cases, the scope of official data collections (and metadata) usually
should be aligned with the scope and terminologies from the legal text. For all cases, a formal list
and glossary of the hazards should be published as part of the core metadata alongside the
statistics.
16. As with the case of the impacts threshold, it is only at the stage of analyses and production of
indicators from the databases that filtering or limiting the selection of hazard types becomes
applicable, and this filtering depends on the particular requirements of users. In principle,
statistics for all hazard types recognized within the country could be compiled in accordance with
DRSF.
17. However, as a general recommendation towards increased consistency in scope of disaster-related
statistics, national agencies are encouraged to follow the scope of hazards defined for
international monitoring for the Sendai Framework and SDGs global monitoring according to the
UN General Assembly (2016) and the subsequent UNISDR Methodological Guidance for
indicators. This recommendation is to report nationally aggregated statistics according to the
overall scope of coverage of the IRDR Peril Classification and Hazard Glossary (IRDR, 2014)
and for two additional categories of hazards defined for the Sendai Framework: environmental
hazards and technological hazards.
18. For organization of the presentation of statistics on disaster occurrences into categories of hazard
types, the main perspective is time series analysis. One of the important examples of an
aggregated category that should be derivable from an agreed classification of hazards is climate-
related disasters. These are hazards in the meteorological and hydrological hazard families as
defined by IRDR (2014).6
5 Ground-shaking from earthquake with no impacts is a hazard, but it becomes a disaster occurrence at the
moment that impacts, however large or small, could be identified. 6 Allignment with meteorological and hydrological families of IRDR can be used as the broad scope for measurement of climate-related disasters. However, some special distinctions may be needed in the details, for example to distinguish between fires that are accidents caused directly by human activities in urban area as compared to wildfires that are consequences of extreme climate conditions (dry heat).
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19. Climate is “the synthesis of weather conditions in a given area, characterized by long-term
statistics (mean values, variances, probabilities of extreme values, etc.) of the meteorological
elements in that area.” (WMO, 2017)
20. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has indicated a strong likelihood that
climate change will lead to increases in frequency and severity of related hazards, and reduce
overall predictability of such hazards based on historical records (see, e.g., IPCC, 2012 and
Birkman, 2013). Trends will be different and unevenly distributed across the globe. Statistics are
needed for assessing how climate change may be impacting disaster risk for different countries or
different regions over time.
21. Another aggregated category of hazards mentioned in the Sendai Framework are “man-made
disasters”. Although the term “natural disasters” is no longer used, man-made hazards refers
especially to environmental and technological hazards, which are not covered by IRDR (2014).
22. In UNGA (2016), technological hazards “originate from technological or industrial conditions,
dangerous procedures, infrastructure failures or specific human activities. Examples include
industrial pollution, nuclear radiation, toxic wastes, dam failures, transport accidents, factory
explosions, fires and chemical spills. Technological hazards also may arise directly as a result of
the impacts of a natural hazard event.”
23. Also from UNGA (2016), environmental hazards: “may include chemical, natural and
biological hazards. They can be created by environmental degradation or physical or chemical
pollution in the air, water and soil. However, many of the processes and phenomena that fall into
this category may be termed drivers of hazard and risk rather than hazards in themselves, such as
soil degradation, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, salinization and sea-level rise.”
24. Other hazards not covered in the scope IRDR (2014) are violent conflicts, including civil war and
the associated human crises, e.g. refugee crises. The OECD estimates that approximately 80% of
international transfers of humanitarian aid goes to conflict-related settings.7. UNGA (2016)
excludes "the occurrence or risk of armed conflicts and other situations of social instability or
tension which are subject to international humanitarian law and national legislation" from its
definition of a hazard for the purpose of Sendai Framework monitoring.
25. A cascading multiple-hazard disaster occurrence is a disaster occurrence in which one type of
hazard (such as a strong storm or a tropical cyclone) causes one or more additional hazards (e.g.
flooding or landslides), that create combined impacts to the population, infrastructure and the
environment. In some cases (e.g. Indonesia), cascading multi-hazard disasters can be reported as
their own specialized category of hazard types, noting also the original trigger hazard (e.g.
storm), as well as the connected hazards (e.g. floods, landslide). Cascading multiple-hazard are
not simply events with proximate timing or locations by coincidence. They are events that are
explicitly linked to the same original trigger hazard, and thus are part of a broader single disaster
occurrence.
26. “A slow-onset disaster emerges gradually over time. Slow-onset disasters could be associated
with, e.g., drought, desertification, sea level rise, epidemic disease.” (UNGA, 2016). Slow-onset
disasters emerge after a period of slowly evolving catastrophic risk, which, given available data
and the right monitoring conditions, can be identified early in order to develop preventative and
mitigation measures for minimizing impacts.
7 See statistics on humanitarian aid at stats.oecd.org
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27. “A sudden-onset disaster is one triggered by a hazardous event that emerges quickly or
unexpectedly. Sudden-onset disasters could be associated with, e.g., earthquake, volcanic
eruption, flash flood, chemical explosion, critical infrastructure failure, and transport accident.”
(UNGA, 2016).
Magnitude
28. Scale of impacts is another important characteristic for organization and presentation of statistics.
Usually, large scale disasters are less frequent but also attract international attention and solidarity
for response and assistance. Smaller scale disasters have less extensive impacts, but may be more
frequent and the cumulative effect can be very significant but also more likely underrepresented
by current databases.
29. It is a common practice of disaster management agencies to categorize disaster occurrences
according to a 3-category scale (minor, moderate, and large scale occurrences). There are various
ways for classifying magnitude. The recommended approach is to refer to the geographic scale of
the call for emergency and support, i.e.: national scale, regional, or local scale disasters. The use
of the geography of the call for emergency is useful as a generic proxy measure for the scale of
the impacts to society.
30. Large disasters are disasters in which the emergency is at a national (or higher) scale and have
special characteristics of interest for analysis because they are relatively rare but have extensive
and long-term effects on sustainable development. Large disasters are often also covered by post
disaster assessment studies, creating opportunities for more comprehensive and more detailed
compilations of statistics on direct and indirect impacts. The impacts of large disasters often cross
administrative boundaries, including international borders, and therefore recordings of statistics
for large scale events are usually applicable to multiple reporting regions. An example was
Cyclone Evan (2012), which caused major damages in Fiji and Samoa, spurring separate
internationally-funded post disaster assessment studies in both countries.
31. Medium and small scale disasters refer to emergencies at smaller than national geographic
scales, which usually result in relatively smaller values of impacts aggregated at the national scale
but with large shares of the total number of disaster occurrences for a country or region. This
distinction is related to the concept of intensive and extensive risk from disasters developed by
UNISDR (2015). “Extensive risk is used to describe the risk associated with low-severity, high-
frequency events, mainly associated with highly localized hazards. Intensive risk is used to
describe the risk associated to high-severity, mid to low-frequency events, mainly associated with
major hazards.”
Disaster Occurrences Time Series
32. Disasters occur randomly in space and over time, which makes analysis of their impacts also
highly sensitive to the selected time period. The current international standard for a baseline time
series analysis of disaster impacts statistics from the Sendai Framework and SDGs is the 16-year
period from 2015-2030. For some other analytical purposes, such as for risk assessments by
hazard type, a much longer time period is needed.
33. Since disasters occur randomly, trends are easier to identify over a relatively longer time period.
Although year to year variations in disaster impacts are highly susceptible to randomness of
disaster occurrences, compilations of annual statistics within the databases is recommended to
allow for flexibility by users to modify their own selections of time periods for their analysis.
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Flexibility is important because, in some extreme cases, inclusion (or exclusion) within the time
period of one particular abnormal occurrence could dramatically change the analysis. Choices in
relation to time periods for dissemination and analyses of statistics vary depending on the special
characteristics of hazard types. For example, the time scale for occurrences of earthquakes and
tsunamis is typically much longer than certain types of floods or meteorological hazards.
2b) Disaster risk
Background
34. Improved utilization of official statistics for understanding disaster risk is a basic motivation for
development of DRSF and its implementation in national statistical systems. Improved
understanding of risk is also priority number one of the Sendai Framework.
35. Disaster risk “is the potential loss of life, injury, or destroyed or damaged assets which could
occur to a system, society or a community in a specific period of time, determined
probabilistically as a function of hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity.” (UNGA, 2016)
36. Disasters are the outcome of present conditions of risk, including exposure to a hazard and the
related patterns of population and socioeconomic development. (UNGA, 2016) “Disaster risk is
geographically highly concentrated and very unevenly distributed” (Pelling, in UNU 2013).
Measurement must account for extreme variability of risk with a broad coverage of the land and
population while also targeting relatively high-risk hotspots with disaggregated statistics.
37. Statistics on the underlying risk are the contextual information for analysing statistics on disaster
impacts and for understanding how impacts from disasters can be reduced for the future.
38. Paragraph 6 of the Sendai Framework, states:
“More dedicated action needs to be focused on tackling underlying disaster risk drivers,
such as the consequences of poverty and inequality, climate change and variability,
unplanned and rapid urbanization, poor land management and compounding factors such as
demographic change, weak institutional arrangements, non-risk-informed policies, lack of
regulation and incentives for private disaster risk reduction investment, complex supply
chains, limited availability of technology, unsustainable uses of natural resources, declining
ecosystems, pandemics and epidemics. Moreover, it is necessary to continue strengthening
good governance in disaster risk reduction strategies at the national, regional and global
levels and improving preparedness and national coordination for disaster response,
rehabilitation and reconstruction, and to use post-disaster recovery and reconstruction to
‘Build Back Better’, supported by strengthened modalities of international cooperation.”
39. Disaster risk is dynamic and its measurement is captured, in part, by common work of national
statistics offices and other providers of official statistics at the national level, such as:
demographic changes, poverty and inequality, structure of the economy, expenditure, economic
production, conditions of ecosystems, and land management.
40. The focus in DRSF is to clarify the role of official statistics as inputs, which should be made as
accessible as possible, for risk assessments. In Birkman (2013), Mark Pelling describes two
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complementary types of risk assessment internationally: risk indices and hotspots. UNDP and
UNEP-GRID have been among the leading international agencies developing global disaster risk
indices (or DRIs). DRIs can be developed for individual hazard types (e.g. for floods or cyclones)
or multi-hazard risk, i.e an index covering multiple hazard types.
41. The hotspots approach follows a similar model that has been used in the domain of biodiversity,
and focuses on applying analyses at a more geographically detailed scale, utilizing key data that
can indicate relatively high levels of likelihood for hazards combined with exposure and
vulnerabilities of the population. Many interesting examples are emerging, for example in the
disaster management agency of Indonesia (BNPB), which is tracking statistical information on
economic activities (derived, e.g., from local tax revenue records) and on children (from
administrative records on enrolment in schools) in relation to the hazard areas of the country.
42. Modern versions of DRIs and other models that can be found in the literature now incorporate
both approaches through geographically disaggregated statistics and analysis using geographic
information systems (GIS) . An advantages of the GIS-based risk production of statistics for
assessment is the potential to apply the methods at different levels of geographic scale, i.e. at the
global, national or regional scales, or for hotspots.
Scope of measurement
43. In the literature and current practice of many disaster management agencies (e.g. the national
disaster management agency of Indonesia, BNPB), disaster risk is defined and measured
according to three core elements: exposure to hazards, vulnerability and coping capacity.
𝑅𝑖𝑠𝑘 = 𝑓(𝐻𝑎𝑧𝑎𝑟𝑑, 𝑉𝑢𝑙𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦)
44. This basic definition for measurement of risk appears in many sources in the disaster risk
reduction literature, and has also been known as the PAR model (Birkman, 2013). Disasters occur
at the intersection of the hazard (e.g. an earthquake) and the human processes generating
exposure, vulnerability and coping capacity. Risk of impacts from a disaster is not driven only by
the scale of the hazard itself (e.g. force of energy of the earthquake or category of storm) but
equally so by social factors that create exposure, vulnerability and coping capacity (UNISDR,
2015).
45. The three elements of exposure to hazards, vulnerability and coping capacity are not independent
factors of risk. This basic formula is useful as the conceptual basis for defining the scope and
organizing statistics on risk in DRSF. It should not to be taken literally as a mathematical formula
for econometrics.
Estimating exposure to hazards
46. There are two main elements to measuring hazard exposure; there is a probabilistic mapping of
the hazard on the one side and a complement mapping of the population, critical infrastructure
(and other objects of interest such as high nature value ecosystems) for the exposure side.
47. The mapped area meeting in the middle is the hazard exposure measurement. Producing statistics
that can be used for estimating the exposure element is one of primary responsibilities of national
statistics offices and census organizations (e.g. through the regular population and housing
census).
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Figure 6: Population exposed to hazards measurement
(Sources: Right Map: UN Environment-GRID’S frequency of flood hazard map. Left map: Population census
2015 from KOSTAT, resampled by UNESCAP to the DLR’s Global Urban Footprint.)
Hazard Mapping
48. For hazard mapping, many variables can be relevant, most of which are not normally a domain
for national statistics offices, but are often available from the official sources of disaster
management, meteorological and geographic information for a country (or region).
49. The BNPB Indonesia example (see annex) provides a good practice example of the types of data
inputs needed for hazard mapping, among which include:
a. knowledge of the distribution of soil-type to model the spatial variation of ground
acceleration from an earthquake,
b. water supply and use balances and other statistical information used for tracking the
hydrological cycle and use of water in the economy
c. values for surface roughness to define the distribution of wind speed from a tropical
cyclone;
d. a digital elevation model (DEM) to determine potential flood height or other hazard
features.
50. There are also software tools and other resources available for probabilistic hazard modelling
software, e.g.:
e. The Austalian Government’s Earthquake Risk Model
(http://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-
topics/hazards/earthquake/capabilties/modelling/eqrm)
f. BNPB Indonesia’s InARisk (http://inarisk.bnpb.go.id/)
g. CAPRA (http://www.ecapra.org/)
h. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s CAMEO (https://www.epa.gov/cameo)
51. A collection of the spatial, intensity, and temporal characteristics for a set of potential hazards is
known as a hazard catalogue. Hazard catalogues and statistics on impacts from historical events
together with risk models can be used in a deterministic or probabilistic manner. Deterministic
risk models are used to assess the impact of specific events on exposure. Typical scenarios for a
deterministic analysis include renditions of past historical events, worst-case scenarios, or
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possible events at different return periods. A probabilistic risk model contains a compilation of all
possible “impact scenarios” for a specific hazard and geographical area. A goal for probabilistic
hazard modelling is convergence of results and a long time series of input data is usually
necessary. For example, a simulation of 100 years of hazard events is too short to determine the
return period and random samples over a period of 100 years of events could easily omit events,
or include multiple events.
52. According to IPCC, three changes are likely to be observed for climate-related hazards for some
geographic regions as a result of rising global temperatures: increases in frequency, severity, and
decreased predictability of hazards. Thus, climate change has contributed to the dynamic nature of
hazards, as an input into the formula for assessing risk. Other risk factors (exposure, vulnerability,
capacity) are, for different reasons, also highly dynamic.
Exposure Statistics
53. For the exposure side, the objective is to measure people, infrastructure, housing, production
capacities and other assets located in hazard-prone areas.
54. Exposure statistics have dual purposes in disaster statistics. In addition to one of the three basic
metrics for disaster risk, exposure statistics are also useful as baseline statistics for assessing (and
for estimating) impacts after a disaster.
55. An approach has been developed for DRSF (see annex), applying the available population census
data using GIS. A method was developed and pilot tested among countries in Asia and the Pacific
to demonstrate the possibilities for applying census statistics for estimating population exposure
to hazard at different scales, based on the available public access population census counts by
administrative region (which can be accessed from national statistics offices at different scales,
depending on the country). The methodology8 was developed and tested among Expert Group
countries during 2016 and 2017 and a complete step-by-step manual describing the steps to
replicate the output statistics for any country using the available population data from census
authorities.
56. The basic objective for this methodology is to provide national agencies with a simple,
reproducible and scalable approach to producing statistics on population exposure, i.e.
estimations of population density in areas exposed to natural hazards or disasters from publically-
accessible data sources.
57. The difference in geographic distribution of hazard areas as compared to the normal
dissemination of population data (i.e. administrative areas at sub-regional or district levels )
creates the requirement to re-allocate distribution (down-scale) population data so that it can be
overlaid with a reasonable degree of accuracy to the actual geographic areas of a hazard or
disaster. The basic requirement is assimilation of population statistics or other exposure elements
(e.g. critical infrastructure) with the hazard maps. The methodology developed for DRSF uses a
grid-based assimilation of census data in GIS.
Figure 7: Grid-based data assimilation
8 See full methodology descriptions at the Expert Group website (http://communities.unescap.org/asia-pacific-expert-group-disaster-related-statistics)
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source: Jean-Louis Weber, CBD Technical Series 77, 2014
58. Generally, the lower the level of geographic detail of the population aggregates (e.g.
administrative regions 01, 02, 03), the more accurate the gridded estimates of population density
should be for producing statistics on hazard exposure.
59. So, for example, in cases such as Tonga, in the Pacific, where census data are accessible by GPS
coordinates, no modelled estimation is required as the census records effectively reveal point
locations for households and the number of people living there (among other relevant data from
the census). These statistics can be used for highly accurate and high-resolution analyses of
location of population with respect to other geographic elements9, including in relation to hazard
area. More commonly in current practice, the most detailed level of geographic area for data
collected by the census organisations are geographic areas called census blocks, which are
instruments for organizing census collection operations and usually contain somewhere between
50-200 households, depending on the country and region. The level of geographic aggregation
for census data that are available to most users is usually at the level of administrative region
(e.g. provinces, municipalities or administrative level 01).
60. Pilot studies for the population exposed to hazards estimation methodology revealed that, with
high quality data of built-up areas such as the DLR Global Urban Footprint (GUF) produced from
radar satellite images (accessible at https://urban-tep.eo.esa.int/#), it is possible to estimate
location of population using a simple model with results that are at least comparable with other
existing international estimations (such as, e.g., by Worldpop.org (http://maps.worldpop.org.uk/#/
or by Global Human Settlement Layer by JRC http://ghslsys.jrc.ec.europa.eu/) based on census
results produced for public use by national statistics offices. Due to the method’s simplicity,
transparency and the opportunity for free access to high resolution GUF data, reproducing
estimations for population to hazard exposure is feasible at different scales according to the detail
of population data available and to varying policy requirements.
61. Hazard exposure statistics come in the form of maps that are also very simply converted into
standardized statistical tables. The figure below summarizes the basic inputs from the hazard and
9 See the Pacific Community’s POPGIS tool (prism.spc.int)
Satellite
images
Hotspots,
Occurences
,
Monitoring
data, samples
Socio-
economic
statistics
Classify,
aggregate
& map
Extrapolate
Overlay
Data inputData assimilation
(e.g. within
1 ha or 1 km2 grids)
Statistics integration,
analysis & reporting
Ref. Geo-
DataCode, Name
Disaggregate
& map
Data QA/QC,
analysis &
processing
e.g. by
administrative
unitse.g. by river
catchments or risk
perimeters…
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the exposure side, which will have close relationships to the measurement of vulnerability and
could be tabulated into standard summary statistics tables, such as in the DRSF Table B1b, which
is organized according to relevant social groups.
Figure 8: Hazard Exposure Model
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0-45-60
60+M
aleFem
aleUrban
RuralDisabled
Poor
1Population
SDG 1.5.1,
Sendai A1,B1
SDG 1.5.1,
Sendai A1,B1
SDG 1.5.1,
Sendai A1,B1
SDG 1.5.1,
Sendai A1,B1
SDG 1.5.1,
Sendai A1,B1
SDG 1.5.1,
Sendai A1,B1
SDG 1.5.1,
Sendai A1,B1
SDG 1.5.1,
Sendai A1,B1
SDG 1.5.1,
Sendai A1,B1
SDG 1.5.1,
Sendai A1,B1
SDG 1.5.1,
Sendai A1,B1
SDG 1.5.1,
Sendai A1,B1
2Population in Hazard Areas
2.1Geophysical
2.1.1H
igh exposure
2.1.2M
oderate exposure
2.1.3Low
exposure
2.2Hydrological
2.2.1H
igh exposure
2.2.2M
oderate exposure
2.2.3Low
exposure
2.3Biological
2.3.1H
igh exposure
2.3.2M
oderate exposure
2.3.3Low
exposure
2.4M
eteorological & Clim
atalogical2.4.1
High exposure
2.4.2M
oderate exposure
2.4.3Low
exposure
2.5O
ther [specify]
2.5.1H
igh exposure
2.5.2M
oderate exposure
2.5.3Low
exposure
TOTAL
C2a4 - Specific
vulnerability groupsN
O
TOTAL
C2a1 - Age groupsTO
TALC2a2 - Sex
TOTAL
C2a3 - Urban/Rural
population
Data so
urces: jo
int w
ork o
f NSO
and
ND
MA
, backgro
un
d statistics d
erived
Expo
sure is m
easured
accord
ing to
hazard
area pro
du
ced u
sing a variety o
f ph
ysical
data in
pu
ts (see C
hap
ter 2). H
azard m
aps are o
verlaid w
ith so
cial and
econ
om
ic
statistics to estim
ate expo
sure.
High
lighted
areas are links to
glob
al ind
icators exp
osu
re. from
po
pu
lation
and
ho
usin
g censu
s; map
s of h
azards calcu
lated b
y ND
MA
Sum
mary Statistics Tab
le B
1b
: Po
pu
lation
Expo
sure
by So
cial
DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION – please do not quote or reference
28
Vulnerability
62. The Sendai Framework recommendations adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2016 defined
vulnerability as “the conditions determined by physical, social, economic and environmental
factors or processes which increase the susceptibility of an individual, a community, assets or
systems to the impacts of hazards.”
63. In some reports, terminologies such as susceptibility, exposure, sensitivity, fragility, and coping
capacity have been used interchangeably with vulnerability. Also the variables for describing
different types of risk factors are not always independent. However, from a measurement
perspective, vulnerability is a distinct and useful concept for organizing statistics on the baseline
conditions, as descriptions of the population and infrastructure, a step beyond the simple
overlapping of location with hazards (i.e. exposure).
64. Previous studies can suggest a potential short list for geographically disaggregated variables for
compilation to improve the availability of reference statistics for identifying potentially
vulnerable segments of the population, such as:
Median household disposable income
Education enrolment, by age group and level of achievement an by male and female
heads of households
Information on assets of households, such as type of dwelling
Other human development statistics, by age group, including evidence related to
nutrition and childhood health,
Type of employment, e.g. identifying households engaged in agriculture of fishing
Urban versus rural distribution of affected or exposed areas
65. All of the above are items for potential disaggregation of the exposed populations, where
available, and could be compiled into basic summary statistics on disaster risk at different scales,
similar to DRSF table B1b.
66. Vulnerability arises from a wide variety of causes. Children are more vulnerable than adults for
physiological reasons. Women could be more vulnerable as a result of social factors, related to
(e.g.) type of employment or economic status. Studies of vulnerabilities for ageing populations
have revealed location and type of residence can be a good reference for assessing vulnerability
for the elderly, especially in cities. Descriptive characteristics of the population, such as gender,
combined with other social characteristics are interesting inputs for analysis of factors of
vulnerability and also for assessing potential sources of coping capacity.
67. If the statistics used in vulnerability assessments are gathered and updated on a regular basis by
geographic regions and specifically for hazard areas within countries, than disaster management
agencies would have a priori information on extent and specific locations (among other
characteristics) of vulnerability for developing targeted disaster risk reduction or response
strategies at local and national levels, in alignment with the overarching objective of Sustainable
Development Goals and of not leaving anyone behind.
68. Vulnerability assessments for disasters cut across the three traditional sustainable development
pillars (economic, social, and environmental) and measurement goes beyond people or
households. For example, although pollution in water bodies is generally considered as an
environmental problem, in the context of disaster risk, pollution is also a social and economic
liability because it can lead to significantly worse impacts to human lives and health and to the
economic costs of recovery. Another example is vulnerability of infrastructure, which is
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29
sometimes called “physical vulnerability”. The response of existing structures to potential
hazards is not only an engineering problem. In most cases, physical vulnerability also stems from
other social-economic or environmental problems. Relatively poor households often have little
choice but to accept relatively less resilient shelters in their dwellings or work places. Poorer
communities, such as slums or lower income areas of urban sprawl, often are the most likely to
be situated in areas with high exposure to hazards.
69. The 2010 World Development Report (World Bank, 2010) stated that “natural systems, when
well-managed, can reduce human vulnerability”. Examining and supporting cases of positive
synergies between environmental protections, also called ‘pro poor environmental policies’ is
one of the objectives for the United Nations Poverty and Environment Initiative (PEI). Wherever
environments are heavily polluted or degraded, often it is the relatively poor populations that are
more likely to be disproportionately affected and, by extension, more vulnerable in the event of a
disaster.
70. Population density and geographic location are the basic dimensions of exposure measurement,
but they also can be factors for vulnerability. Many rural communities face marginally higher
vulnerabilities due to the generally poorer access to transportation, health facilities, and other
types of critical infrastructure or support services. The largest share of people living in poverty
also tends to be in rural areas in developing countries. On the other hand, other facets of rural
communities, such as informal community support systems, could be notable sources of
resilience.
71. The defining characteristic of the urban centres, particularly the megacities, many of which are
located in coastal zones or otherwise hazardous locations in Asia and Pacific, is extreme
population density. While there are social benefits to having large groups of people concentrated
within relatively small geographic areas, such conglomerations can be inherently vulnerable to
impacts from hazards. Also, the characteristics of urban slums10, as defined by the United
Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) are likely to be key factors for
vulnerability in those communities.
72. Economic-related vulnerabilities include structural factors that are specific to geographic regions
within countries. For example, tourism and agriculture both have characteristics that can lead to
increased vulnerability to impacts from a disaster as compared to other types of economic
activity. So, economies based on agriculture and other kinds of productive activities that are space
intensive and/or heavily dependent on meteorological and other environmental conditions will, in
most cases, be relatively more vulnerable to natural hazards as compared to, for example,
services-based economies. Thus, some of the economic vulnerabilities to disasters are assessed
through macroeconomic analysis on the structure of economies for specific geographic areas
exposed to hazards.
Coping capacity
73. The term “resilience” has been applied in reports on disaster risk reduction with various meanings
or descriptions. Commonly, resilience is mentioned almost interchangeably with the concept of
coping capacity. This is the ability for households or businesses or infrastructure to withstand
external shocks without sustaining major permanent negative impacts, and instead guiding
towards opportunities for improvements in the future (e.g.. “building back better”).
10 A slum household suffers: lack of access to improved water source, lack of access to improved sanitation
facilities, lack of sufficient living area, lack of housing durability or lack of security of tenure (UN-
Habitat,2016)
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30
74. Birkman (2013) writes: “In contrast to vulnerability, resilience emphasizes that stressors and
crises in social-ecological systems also provide windows of opportunity for change and
innovation. Hence crises and destabilization processes are seen as important triggers for renewal
and learning.”
75. Many strategies for coping with disasters are informal and not managed by governments or
through regulations, and therefore their significance to understanding risk is difficult to measure
with statistics. For example, one of the coping mechanisms in the case of drought or other types
of climate or hydrological-related hazards is simply migration, either permanently or temporarily,
in search of a livelihood outside the worst affected areas. Population displacement and other
movements of the population that correspond in timing with a disaster can sometimes be captured
via statistics from population censuses or population administrative records. More difficult is to
attribute movements specifically to hazards or a past disaster.
76. There also are coping mechanisms which are organized efforts that can be captured by statistics
for disaster risk assessments. Disaster preparedness is a good example. After major earthquakes
struck the Canterbury province of New Zealand, population and housing census results revealed
significant increases in disaster preparedness of households (e.g. rationing emergency food and
water storage). Such information reveals a decrease in overall risk, via increased coping
capacities, and also direct benefits from learning and from educational programmes enacted after
the experience of previous disasters.
77. Basic statistics on coping capacities are an important input for understanding risk, but an
additional use for statistics on coping capacity is to show direct results from investments in
increased preparedness. Disaster management agencies utilize the best available risk information
to design and implement activities to reduce the impacts of disasters. The aim of these activities
is that they improve preparedness and strengthen the overall resilience of a community before a
hazard or disaster.
78. Disaster risk reduction-related activities (see Section 2e) are activities that boost the coping
capacities of society. In order to assess the direct results of these investments, governments should
also collect statistics for assessing how these investments affect coping capacities, e.g. coverage
of early warning systems and the basic knowledge and preparedness of households.
79. People are not equally able to access the resources and opportunities (or knowledge and
information about hazards). The same social processes involved in the disadvantages of poverty
also can have a significant role in determining their level of preparedness and access to
information and knowledge. (Wisner et al., 2003).
Summary Statistics Table B3: Coping Capacity Background Statistics
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31
Geographic disaggregation
80. For producing, and utilizing statistics for risk assessment, a key requirement is geographic
disaggregation. Data assimilation in GIS creates possibilities to apply the available data to
produce and communicate statistics at multiple scales. At a minimum, variables identified for
vulnerability to disasters should be compiled to the lowest available sub-national administrative
regions (e.g. Administrative region 02 or 03). In DRSF background statistic tables, all variables
are organized according to geographic regions used for statistics within the country. In reporting
tables, geographic disaggregation is predetermined by existing practices and requirements of
users. However, within GIS, geographic regions can be defined or adapted to the specific analysis.
Geo Region
1
Geo Region
2
Geo Region
3… National
Measuremen
t Unit
Coping Capacity Table1 GDP SDG 1.5.2 SDG 1.5.2 SDG 1.5.2 SDG 1.5.2 SDG 1.5.2 Currency
2 GDP per capita Currency
3 Median Households disposable income Currency
3.1 Local currency (NAME...)Currency
3.2 US$ PPP US$ PPP
4 Number of dwellings with slum
designation
no. of units
5 Population living in areas with slum
designation
no. of people
No. of systems
6.1 Population covered Sendai G-3 Sendai G-3 Sendai G-3 Sendai G-3 Sendai G-3 %
6.2 Share of population in exposure areas covered %
6.3InvestmentExpenditure (also DRRE_A,
3.2) Currency
7.1 Share of households with emergency plan %
7.2 Share of households with backup storage of food and water %
7.3 Share of households with improved access to water and sanitation %
7.4 Other Preparedness (houehold level) %
8.1 Forest area sq km
8.2 Share of water bodies in good condition %
8.3 Other ecosystem condition measures
Currency
9.1 Disaster risk reduction characteristic transfers received Currency
9.2 Disaster Risk Prevention Currency
9.3 Disaster Risk Mitigation Currency
9.4 Disaster Management Currency
9.5 Disaster Recovery Currency
9.6 General Government, Research & Development, Education Expenditure Currency
Currency
6 Early Warning Systems
9 Risk Reduction Activity
10 DRRCA Transfers fom Central to local
government
7 Household Preparedness
8 Environmental Resilience
Data sources vary and include NSO and possibly multiple Ministries; household preparedness statistics from household surveys and population and
housing census
Definition of Slums: UN-HABITAT defines a slum household as a group of individuals living under the same roof in an urban area who lack one or
more of the following: (1) Durable housing of a permanent nature that protects against extreme climate conditions; (2) Sufficient living space which
means not more than three people sharing the same room. (3) Easy access to safe water in sufficient amounts at an affordable price. (4) Access to
adequate sanitation in the form of a private or public toilet shared by a reasonable number of people and (5) Security of tenure that prevents
forced evictions.
Highlighted areas show links to global indicators
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32
81. Often it is useful to define homogenous regions --- e.g. urban and rural, residential and non-
residential, agricultural land, etc. One of the basic inputs for developing exposure statistics are
land cover and land use maps and, where available, the cadastres of municipalities. Land cover
and land use maps, among other kinds of geospatial information, provide the necessary baseline
information for defining specific geographic objects of interest in risk assessment.
82. Risk statistics differ from impacts statistics in that they are baseline information about the
population or infrastructure compiled prior to a disaster for risk areas whereas impacts statistics
are information for describing a population affected by a specific and unique disaster occurrence
(and affected area). However, the disaggregation of statistics on the human impacts (see sections
2d) should, in many cases, mirror the groups that were identified in the vulnerability assessments
– e.g. children, the elderly and the income poor – and eventually the two measurement sytems
should become mutually reinforcing to improve one another, built upon the same basic initial data
collections used for disaster risk measurement. For example, baseline statistics on economic
activity for areas exposed to hazards can be reused for estimating costs of damages in impacts
assessments.
83. Increasingly, traditional data sources of the national statistical system like household and business
registers, household and business surveys, population and housing censuses are conducted with
use of detailed geographic referencing. The geographic referencing may be confidential at the
level of individual records, but summary statistics can be disseminated for use for comparisons at
different scales or specifically defined areas (e.g. Hazard areas). The quality and level of detail of
available data with geographic referencing of households, businesses, and other land uses, varies
greatly between countries, and sometimes within countries (e.g. between rural areas and urban
centres). But the broad trend for official statistics has been a rapid expansion in the possibilities,
using affordable tools and the existing data, to greater level of flexibility and level detail for
geographic disaggregation of statistics on risk.
2c) Material Impacts and Economic Loss
Material Impacts
84. Direct material impacts encompass physical damages from a hazard to assets and other objects
valuable to society, such as critical infrastructure. Direct material impacts also constitute the
source of direct economic loss measurement, as defined for the Sendai Framework.
85. Initially, statistics on direct material impacts are produced by disaster management agencies based
on assessments conducted immediately after an emergency (UNGA, 2016). These statistics are
complemented by statistical information on the location and basic characteristics of infrastructure
known prior to the hazard, e.g. estimates of exposed infrastructure. Thus, background statistics on
infrastructure serve an additional purpose as baseline or contextual information for impacts
statistics.
86. Also complementing assessments of material impacts by the disaster management agencies are
analyses of regular sources of time series statistics within the national statistical system, such as
the population and housing census, business surveys, and compilations of other records of
economic activity that are used to evaluated trends on a continuous basis, i.e. before, during, and
DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION – please do not quote or reference
33
after disasters. In particular, comparisons for an affected area before and after a disaster can be
used to help estimate the extent of materials impacts and their economic costs.
87. Direct observations of material impacts from a disaster are compiled, initially, in physical (or
volume) terms, i.e. in terms of area (sq. m), number of people affected, or counts of units (or
buildings, by type) that are damaged or destroyed. Defining measurement units (see Chapter 5)
is a crucial step for designing the collection and dissemination of a robust and consistent
compilation of material impacts statistics. The scope of measurement is defined according to the
stocks of physical objects (e.g. assets) exposed to hazards (see classification of material impacts
in Chapter 5). Prioritization is given to especially important groups of assets, such as the critical
infrastructure and agricultural crops.
88. There are multiple possibilities for measurement units and for compiling direct material impacts
from disasters and national statistical systems should aim to converge toward consistency across
disaster occurrences so that of summary tables of impacts can be compiled over time, such as in
the examples below. Collection of basic data on numbers of units (e.g. no of buildings) of the
different categories of critical infrastructure, see example below from the Philippines, is a good
starting point. On this basis, additional data – e.g. classes of hospitals damaged, length of roads,
numbers of people affected by disruptions, and so on, can be integrated, gradually building more
sophisticated compilations of for assessing the scale of the material impacts and the recovery
needs.
Sample Table 1: Damages to Critical Infrastructure in the Philippines, 2013-15
Source: report from Philippines for DRSF Pilot Studies (2016); units: no. of buildings
89. Critical Infrastructure is “the physical structures, facilities, networks and other assets which
provide services that are essential to the social and economic functioning of a community or
Region I (Ilocos) 3 33 5
Region II (Cagayan Valley) 30 0 0 19 8
Region III (Central Luzon) 64 140 12
Region IV-A (Calabarzon) 12 0 0 5
Region IV-B (Mimaropa) 123 0 0
Region V (Bicol) 66 0 0 10 1
Region VI (Western Visayas) 36 0 1
Region VII (Central Visayas) 286 82 37 55 26 18
Region VIII (Negros Island Region) 347 0 0 24 4 0
Region IX (Zamboanga Peninsula) 0 0
Region X (Northern Mindanao) 0 0 0 3 3
Region XI (Davao Region) 0 0 18 3
Region XII (Soccsksargen) 0
Region XIII (Caraga) 0 0 39 6
National Capital Region (NCR) 8
Cordillera Administrative Region
(CAR) 1 20
Autonomous Region of Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM)
Nattional total
PH
ILIP
PIN
ES
Region
DAMAGES TO CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Hospitals/
Health
facil ities
Education
facil ities
Other critical
public
administration
buildings
Roads BridgesOther critical
infrastructures
DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION – please do not quote or reference
34
society. ” (UNGA, 2016). A list of critical infrastructure is presented as a sub-group of the
broader classification of direct material impacts in Chapter 5.
90. Damages to dwellings create an explicit link between human and material impacts tables. In the
example below, impacts are measured again in terms of numbers of units, this time for the case of
Indonesia. Number of dwellings will be roughly equivalent to number of households affected. In
principle, the same source of this information could also be used to calculate the number of
persons affected by damaged or destroyed dwellings, which is also part of the displaced
population, as long as the dwellings affected can be linked to (or estimated for) the population per
household in those units. There is also an opportunity, having identified and counted specific
dwellings affected, to collect data on characteristics (age, gender, poverty status, etc.).
Sample Table 2: Damages to Dwellings in Indonesia
Damaged Dwellings (#of units)
geophysical hydrological meteorological Climatological Other total
Aceh 9307 2026 201 0 11534
Bali 3 148 46 197
Bangka-Belitung 0 103 103
Banten 55 403 173 631
Bengkulu 321 178 112 611
Gorontalo 3 3 6
Irian Jaya Barat 0
Jakarta Raya 3 0 250 253
Jambi 47 148 162 0 357
Jawa Barat 1345 6969 1547 9861
Jawa Tengah 830 1285 4768 0 6883
Jawa Timur 612 576 3218 0 4406
Kalimantan Barat 90 158 248
Kalimantan Selatan 334 129 0 463
Kalimantan Tengah 1 0 1
Kalimantan Timur 47 1 39 0 87
Kalimantan Utara 1 0 1
Kepulauan Riau 4 49 111 0 164
Lampung 0 0 1023 1023
Maluku 620 83 703
Maluku Utara 146 23 169 Nusa Tenggara Barat 735 1454 129 2318 Nusa Tenggara Timur 11 151 32 194
Papua 1 0 1
Riau 9 30 343 0 382
Sulawesi Barat 76 31 107
Sulawesi Selatan 66 23 697 786
Sulawesi Tengah 27 3 0 30
Sulawesi Tenggara 8 114 122
DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION – please do not quote or reference
35
Sulawesi Utara 37 145 6 188
Sumatera Barat 2688 504 281 0 3473
Sumatera Selatan 78 20 244 342
Sumatera Utara 27 30 2249 0 2306
Yogyakarta 22 18 61 101
Papua Barat 9 305 314
National Total 17023 15107 16235 0 0 48365
Damaged Dwellings, # of units (1900-present), accessed from Data Informasi Bencana Indonesia
(DIBI) http://dibi.bnpb.go.id, 2017
91. There are several purposes for accounting for damages to assets after a disaster, including
improving knowledge of physical vulnerabilities to hazards, estimating the value of economic loss
from a disaster, and also for identifying disruptions of basic services from a disaster, which is the
focus of Sendai Framework Target D: “substantially reduce disaster damage to critical
infrastructure and disruption of basic services, among them health and educational facilities,
including through developing their resilience by 2030.”
92. Statistics on disruptions to services from material impacts, can be presented according to hazard
types and according to geographic regions within the country. There are two measurement units
and common denominator used for statistics on disruptions to basic services: numbers of
persons affected and length of time (e.g. number of days) for the disruptions.
Table D2a Disruptions to Basic Services from a Disaster by Hazard Type
93. In addition to damages to critical infrastructure and other buildings, another important component
of direct material impacts is damages to the land and other natural resources, especially to
agricultural land, destruction of trees, and damages to the conditions of important ecosystems
such as forests and water bodies.
94. There are also material impacts to other forms of capital besides produced assets, such as
household consumer durables or other various types of environmental assets. The System of
Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) 2012 – Central Framework is an internationally
Disruptions to Basic services from a Disaster1 Health services Sendai D-7 Sendai D-7 Sendai D-7 Sendai D-7 Sendai D-7 Sendai D-7
1.1 No. of people
1.2 Length of time
2 Educational services Sendai D-6 Sendai D-6 Sendai D-6 Sendai D-6 Sendai D-6 Sendai D-6
2.1 No. of people
2.1 Length of time
3 Public administration services Sendai D-8 Sendai D-8 Sendai D-8 Sendai D-8 Sendai D-8 Sendai D-8
3.1 No. of people
3.2 Length of time
4 Water services
4.1 No. of people
4.2 Length of time
5 Other Basic Services
5.1 No. of people
5.2 Length of time
6 Total Disruptions Sendai D-5 Sendai D-5 Sendai D-5 Sendai D-5 Sendai D-5 Sendai D-5
6.1 No. of people
6.2 Length of time
DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION – please do not quote or reference
36
agreed standard for producing comparable statistics on the environment and its relationship with
the economy, following a similar accounting structure as the SNA. According to SEEA,
environmental assets are “the naturally occurring living and non-living components of the Earth,
together constituting the biophysical environment, which may provide benefits to humanity.”
Some environmental assets are also economic assets and included within the SNA assets
boundary, particularly land and natural resources. However, some other benefits from ecological
processes recognized in SEEA are beyond the scope of SNA and are not currently valued in
monetary terms. An example are the natural protections against hazards provided by vegetation as
a natural barrier on coastlines against storms or for upstream absorption of water during a period
of heavy rainfall. Such benefits are recognized as benefits of ecosystem services in the SEEA
Experimental Ecosystem Accounting framework, but beyond the scope of current practice for
monetary valuations in national accounts.
95. Human capital is also affected in complex ways as a direct consequence of material impacts from
a disaster. For example, employment can be disrupted by damaged or destroyed economic
assets or due to displacement or migration away from a disaster area. Other types of capital are
incorporated into the basic range of disaster related statistics in other ways, such as via other
forms of human impacts (see next section) and other types of measures of changes to
environmental condition (see environmental impacts tables)
96. In economic terms, impacts to agriculture are often among the most significant impacts from
disasters. In part this is because, as a land intensive activity, agriculture faces a relatively large
exposure to hazards. Another reason is because there are many forms of material impacts to
agricultural establishments. They are manifested as damages to the land itself, including the soil
(e.g. accelerated erosion, landslide impacts, salinization), land improvements (e.g. irrigation
systems), constructed assets (building and equipment) as well as direct losses to the growing
(non-harvested) crops. Each of these components of damages can be measured separately and in
both physical and monetary terms.
Economic Costs from Material Impacts
97. According to the currently available statistics, economic impacts from disasters are on the rise in
many countries, creating fundamental challenges to the achievement of sustainable development.
98. Addressing increased exposure to economic impacts of disasters through policies is aided by clear
concepts for measuring economic loss from disasters that are harmonized, as much as possible,
across countries and across disasters.
99. Direct economic loss is one of the core disaster-related indicators for monitoring progress in the
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) and in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk
Reductions. In that context, Direct economic loss is defined for the monitoring of Target C in the
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction as "the monetary value of total or partial
destruction of physical assets existing in the affected area." Methodological guidance developed
for monitoring international indicators for economic loss (target C) of the Sendai Framework
(UNIDSR, 2017) acknowledged significant differences in current practices for economic loss
measurement around the world and that, currently, “in many disaster loss databases and disaster
situation reports, it is often difficult to determine which methodology, criteria and parameters
have been used for estimation of the economic value of losses.”
100. UNISDR guidance recommends calculating the direct economic loss indicator for international
monitoring of Target C in the Sendai Framework (UNISDR, 2016) based on assessments of
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37
damages by disaster management agencies. For these assessments, valuation of the physical
impacts should be aligned, as much as feasible, with established principles and standard practices
in economic statistics, such as the System of National Accounts (SNA). Although, it is not an
objective in the SNA to measure economic impacts of disasters, it addresses the general
equilibrium of economic flows and the changes in assets and liabilities and there are important
relationships between direct or indirect impacts of disasters with outputs of the national accounts.
101. In principle, losses of assets from a disaster has a special recording in the SNA, an item called
catastrophic losses11
, which are represented as a special type of change (“other changes in
volume”) to the national balance sheet for physical assets. This is a change in the stock of assets,
which has no direct or explicit effect on the flows portion of the accounting framework, such as
production and income. However, there are also indirect economic effects of disasters on
production, consumption, and employment, but these values are implicit in the accounts and thus
are direct observed but estimated via some form of modelled scenario analysis.
102. There is a strong interest for measures of indirect economic losses from disasters, for example to
produce estimates of the effect of disasters on GDP growth. Assessment studies to estimate
indirect economic losses from disasters are sometimes conducted, at least for key sectors of the
economy, after the large scale disasters but less commonly for smaller occurrences, like minor
floods, localized storms, or wild fires.
103. For many disasters, the indirect economic impacts are likely to be much larger in value as
compared to direct impacts (i.e. the cost of reconstructing damaged assets). However, an initial
focus on reliable measurement of direct economic costs is a sensible first priority because the
direct economic loss values is also a basic building block upon which assessments and modelling
of indirect economic impacts can be developed over time. Included as part of assessments of
indirect economic losses from disasters are reduced employment and income, including for
households or businesses that did not sustain any direct losses to their assets or other durables.
These negative effects will be incorporated implicitly into GDP along with the post-disaster
restoration activities (as positive contributions to GDP, rather than as losses). So, aggregate
indirect impacts (or ‘losses’) to economies are ambiguous from the national accounts and requires
some assumptions and modelling.
104. The direct impacts from disasters recorded in the SNA Other Changes in Volume to Asset
account, where available, cover losses in asset values from relatively large scale occurrences (see
definition above), and therefore should be appended with estimates of the costs of damages from
smaller scale events as well. Compilation of values for direct economic loss should, initially, be
calculated by disaster management agencies based on available data from the insurance industry,
from the usual sources of statistic of economic activity before and after the disaster (e.g.
government finance statistics, tax records, enterprise surveys), and, where possible, from specially
designed post-disaster assessment surveys of households and businesses in affected areas.
105. According to the System of National Accounts, an asset is “a store of value representing a
benefit or series of benefits accruing to the economic owner by holding or using the
11 “The volume changes recorded as catastrophic losses in the other changes in the volume of assets account are
the result of large scale, discrete and recognizable events that may destroy a significantly large number of
assets within any of the asset categories. Such events will generally be easy to identify. They include major
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tidal waves, exceptionally severe hurricanes, drought and other natural
disasters; acts of war, riots and other political events; and technological accidents such as major toxic spills or
release of radioactive particles into the air. Included here are such major losses as deterioration in the quality
of land caused by abnormal flooding or wind damage; destruction of cultivated assets by drought or outbreaks
of disease; destruction of buildings, equipment or valuables in forest fires or earthquakes.” [SNA 12.46]
DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION – please do not quote or reference
38
entity over a period of time. It is a means of transferring value from one accounting period to
another. “ (SNA 2008, para 3.30). Assets have an intrinsic value represented by their expected
benefits to owners. This value can be lost or reduced directly by a disaster. Also for consideration
for measurement of direct economic loss are “household consumer durables”, a class of product,
such as privately owned cars, which have a value in their own final use by households.
106. According to the SNA concept of value for assets, their destruction is a loss from the perspective
of owners and a direct reduction in the overall balance of savings for an economy. When it comes
to monetary valuation of damages to these assets, the approach described in UNISDR (2017)
offers a different perspective, which is to identify estimated replacement costs – effectively the
costs of post-disaster reconstruction – which are akin to opportunity costs to the broader economy
created by the need to rebuild the asset base.
107. In the SNA, production is an activity carried out under the responsibility, control and
management of an institutional unit (households, government, businesses), that uses inputs of
labour, capital, and goods and services to produce outputs of goods and services (SNA, 2008).
The balancing item from production accounts is Value Added (VA), which summed at the
country level is GDP. VA and GDP are firstly computed Gross, which means with no deduction
of the regular depreciation (consumption of fixed capital in the SNA terminology) resulting from
assets use and obsolescence. When deduction is done, VA and production are called “Net” (NVA,
NDP).
108. The reconstruction and replacement costs for destroyed or damaged assets are also values for
productive and income-earning activities, which are included implicitly on the right side of Figure
9. The values of these reconstruction and replacement activities are implicitly a part of GDP, and
they represent the actual costs to the resident economic entities for recovering the losses to assets.
109. Whereas, in principle, catastrophic losses to the baseline value of national assets is conceptually
well aligned with the concept of direct economic loss inherited from the Sendai Framework and
SDGs, the approach for valuation actually depends on data on estimated costs for reconstruction
of the assets, which is an activity valued as part of productive and income-earning activities.
Figure 9: Catastrophic Losses in the SNA
DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION – please do not quote or reference
39
110. Sources of data on reconstruction costs are records from insurance claims or payments, e.g. from
government, for repairs to infrastructure. On aggregate, these values are the costs for repairing or
replacing the lost assets or consumer durables.
111. Expenditures on disaster reconstruction and recovery may be difficult to identify and isolate from
the current sources of statistics on construction and other related activities because they are
implicitly recorded as part of a broader classification of transactions. However, in principle, a
functional selection of transactions, known as “satellites” to the SNA, are included but not
explicitly as reconstruction after a disaster.
112. The value for these implicit transactions within the broader expenditure accounting could be
estimated, especially for the government expenditure. The purpose of satellite accounts is to
present, in a systematic and comprehensive way, key aggregate economic indicators (called
balancing items in the national accounts) for analysis of a particular domain such as education,
health, research and development, environmental protection or on a multi-dimensional activities
such as tourism. A main aggregate of interest from disaster risk reduction satellite account is
national DRR expenditure. Its magnitude can be compared with other activities and with the total
GDP. Within the development of a disaster risk reduction satellite account (see Section 2e) is an
item for reconstruction expenditures and also the post-disaster “structural measures” for future
disaster prevention (i.e. “building back better”).
113. Theoretically, an expenditure accounting approach to estimating direct economic costs from
disaster has an advantage of being based on observed transactions and thus aligned with actual
expenses and real costs to society for restoring the stock of infrastructure as the basic building
blocks for economic activity. However, in reality, not all damaged or destroyed assets are
recovered through reconstruction at all or at least not precisely with a replacement of the assets
that were there before. Some assets are replaced by qualitatively different new assets. The costs
of building back better, for example, are different from the losses to assets. However, these
additional costs are also useful statistics, as important component of the overall economic
investment in achieving disaster risk reduction targets.
114. In summary, while there is a strong international demand for internationally comparable
indicators for direct economic loss, there is also an interest to produce multiple related figures,
DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION – please do not quote or reference
40
where possible, in order to meet different purposes of economic analysis, including, in particular,
assessments of the indirect economic impacts of disasters, accounting for costs of expenditure
for the post- disaster rebuilding and the broader measurement of disaster risk reduction
expenditures, including costs for “building back better”.
Direct Economic Impacts to Agriculture
115. A very important case for understanding the scope for valuing direct material impacts to from
disasters is agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
116. Economic assets include machinery and equipment used in production and also land (or
improvements to land, following the SNA definition) and other resources like livestock and
plantations. Sometimes improvements (e.g. irrigation) that were made to the land are undone as
a direct impact of a disaster, making continued use of the land impractical without restoration and
restarting the production process. Also, if crops, livestock or trees are killed by a disaster, the
only option is to purchase replacement inputs from the market and, effectively, restart the
production process over again.
117. In cases of damaged or destroyed crops, the market value of the finished product provides an
estimate of the value of losses in foregone revenue from the owner’s perspective. For practical
reasons, this price is the recommended value used to estimate the value of impacts from a disaster
to work-in-progress, unharvested crops, and also to livestock, fisheries and to forest cover (both
cultivated and non-cultivated forests are recognized as assets in the SNA).
118. Thus, for the case of agriculture, there are at least 3 distinct types of direct impacts and valuation.
These different values can be aggregated for direct impacts without double-counting: (i)
estimated market price value of destroyed crops, livestock, and trees), (ii) replacement costs for
damaged or destroyed buildings and equipment, and (iii) recovery costs for damages to restore
improvements to the land.
Economic Loss and Poverty
119. The demand for direct economic loss from disasters indicator in the Sendai Framework and
SDGs goes beyond the aggregate analysis, but also to provide for focused analyses for risk
reduction for the poor and other people in vulnerable situations. This can be accomplished via the
linkages to human impact statistics, in particular households affected by damages to their
dwellings or other assets. In the indirect economic costs assessments, considering the social costs
of damages to assets (effects on employment, changes in the structure of the economy, etc.) is
also crucial for analysing economic impacts and vulnerable groups. Another important link for
understanding this relationship is to review statistics on financial support during and after a
disaster.
120. In the Impacts of Climate Change on Human Life Survey (2015) of the Bangladesh Bureau of
Statistics, data were collected from households on financial support after a disaster by source and
DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION – please do not quote or reference
41
purpose of the assistance. This type of data could also be used to produce statistics categorized
according to recipients, including relevant population groups and geographic regions.
2d) Human Impacts
121. In DRSF, there are two basic categories of statistics on impacts from disasters: the material
impacts (previous section) and human impacts. Some of the statistics relate to both categories and
therefore provide a bridge between the material and human impacts tables. For example, in
principle, the same data sources are used for accounting for damaged or destroyed dwellings (an
indicator in the Sendai Framework Target C for economic loss) should also be applicable for
estimating the number of people whose houses were damaged due to hazardous events (also an
indicator for monitoring the Sendai Framework, under Target B for affected population) and a
potential cause of temporary or permanent displacement.
122. The rows in the summary statistics tables on human impacts (see Table C2 below) provides a
summary of a basic range of statistical outputs compiled from various sources for describing the
human impacts of disasters, with links to Sendai framework Target B indicators highlighted.
DRSF Table C2: Summary of human impacts by hazards types and geographic regions
DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION – please do not quote or reference
42
Geo-physical
Hydrological
Meteorological & Climatalogical
Biological
Other
Adjustment for multiple counting of occurneces
by types
TOTAL Region 1
1 - Su
mm
ary of H
um
an Im
pacts
Hu
man
, affected p
op
ulatio
n
1.1D
eaths o
r missin
gSD
G 1
.5.1
/Sen
dai A
-1SD
G 1
.5.1
/Sen
dai A
-1SD
G 1
.5.1
/Sen
dai A
-1SD
G 1
.5.1
/Sen
dai A
-1SD
G 1
.5.1
/Sen
dai A
-1SD
G 1
.5.1
/Sen
dai A
-1
1.1
.1D
eath
sSe
nd
ai A-2
Sen
dai A
-2Se
nd
ai A-2
Sen
dai A
-2Se
nd
ai A-2
Sen
dai A
-2
1.1
.2M
issing
Sen
dai A
-3Se
nd
ai A-3
Sen
dai A
-3Se
nd
ai A-3
Sen
dai A
-3Se
nd
ai A-3
1.2In
jured
or ill
Sen
dai B
-2Se
nd
ai B-2
Sen
dai B
-2Se
nd
ai B-2
Sen
dai B
-2Se
nd
ai B-2
1.2
.1 M
ajo
r inju
ries
1.2
.2 M
ino
r inju
ries
1.2
.3Iln
esses
1.3D
isplaced
1.3
.1P
erma
nen
t reloca
tion
s du
e to d
estroyed
dw
elling
Sen
dai B
-4Se
nd
ai B-4
Sen
dai B
-4Se
nd
ai B-4
Sen
dai B
-4Se
nd
ai B-4
1.3
.2O
ther D
ispla
ced
1.4D
wellin
gs Dam
aged
1.4
.1N
um
ber o
f peo
ple w
ho
se ho
uses w
ere da
ma
ged
du
e to
ha
zard
ou
s events
Sen
dai B
-3Se
nd
ai B-3
Sen
dai B
-3Se
nd
ai B-3
Sen
dai B
-3Se
nd
ai B-3
1.5Lo
ss of Jo
bs/o
ccup
ation
s1
.5.1
Direct lo
sses of jo
bs/o
ccup
atio
ns in
ind
ustry a
nd
servicesSe
nd
ai B-5
Sen
dai B
-5Se
nd
ai B-5
Sen
dai B
-5Se
nd
ai B-5
Sen
dai B
-5
1.5
.2D
irect losses o
f job
s/occu
pa
tion
s in a
gricultu
re
1.5
.3Lo
sses of d
ays o
f activity
1.5
.3.1
Direct lo
sses of d
ays o
f activity in
ag
ricultu
re
1.5
.3.2
Direct lo
sses of d
ays o
f activity in
ind
ustry a
nd
services
1.6N
um
ber o
f peo
ple evacu
ated o
r receiving aid
1.6
.1N
um
ber o
f peo
ple w
ho
receieved a
id. In
clud
ing
foo
d a
nd
no
n-fo
od
aid
du
ring
a d
isaster
1.6
.2Su
pp
orted
with
evacu
atio
n
1.6
.3N
on
-sup
po
rted eva
cua
tion
s
1.6
.4N
um
ber o
f peo
ple w
ho
receieved a
id a
fter a d
isaster
1.7O
therw
ise affected
1.8A
ffected P
op
ulatio
n (n
o o
f imp
acts)SD
G 1
.5.1
/Sen
dai B
-1SD
G 1
.5.1
/Sen
dai B
-1SD
G 1
.5.1
/Sen
dai B
-1SD
G 1
.5.1
/Sen
dai B
-1SD
G 1
.5.1
/Sen
dai B
-1SD
G 1
.5.1
/Sen
dai B
-1
1.9M
ultip
le cou
nts, in
divid
uals (m
inu
s)
1.10To
tal Hu
man
Imp
actas (no
of p
eop
le)
Ge
o R
egio
n 1
DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION – please do not quote or reference
43
Disaggregation of human impacts statistics
123. When estimates for human impacts are initially recorded by disaster management agencies, basic
demographic and social information (such as age and gender) about the affected people may not
yet be known because this information about the population is not necessarily a priority during
the emergency period. Therefore, disaggregation of impacts may be a secondary step involving
estimation and linking between multiple data sources.
124. Sometimes there are challenges in producing disaggregated demographic and social information
for describing affected populations. The sample table extracted from the Philippines pilot study
reporting shows an example of how available disaggregated statistics can be utilized, even when
the information is incomplete, by including a category for “unidentified”.
125. For future disaster occurrences and through increased experience with compiling summary
statistics after disasters over time, it becomes possible, via linking datasets, to produce social
and demographically disaggregated statistics more completely for a basic range of human impact
statistics for specific disaster or for multiple occurrences over a period of time and for regional
and national levels.
Sample Table: demographic disaggregation of affected population statistics, extract from
Philippines
Dea
th
Year Age groups
TOTAL
Sex
TOTAL
0-4
5-60 60+ Unidentified
Male Female Unidentified
2013
46
423
246 5,899 6,614
887 864 4,863 6,614
2014
22
202 45 25 294
200 87 7 294
2015 12 95 18 10 135 94 41
135
Mis
sin
g
Year Age groups
TOTAL
Sex
TOTAL
0-4
5-60 60+ Unidentified
Male Female Unidentified
2013 4 42 1 1,038 1,085 91 28 966 1,085
2014 2 19 0 11 32 25 7 0 32
2015 0 13 0 13 26 20 2 4 26
Source: Philippines Department of National Defense and Philippines Statistics Authority, via DRSF Pilot Study, 2016
Deaths or Missing
126. Death or missing is a combined category of statistics because missing people are either found or,
unfortunately, eventually declared dead. The transition from missing to dead follows a procedure
and period of time, which varies according to national laws. The differences in laws and practices
in terms of the time period for missing persons do not affect the statistics in the long-term
DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION – please do not quote or reference
44
because, eventually, in all cases the total amount of fatalities includes the missing and later
declared dead.
127. However, rules for attribution for deaths or missing population to a disaster currently vary
internationally, which affects the comparability for scope of human impacts measurements. Rules
for attribution of deaths to a disaster cannot be standardized across all cases, but the general
framework for attribution is:
a. deaths occurring during an emergency period (or deaths caused by an injury or illness sustained
during an emergency) and believed to be caused by a disaster, and
b. indirect fatalities associated with a hazard, e.g. deaths from illnesses caused by consequences
(poor access to water and sanitation, exposure to unsanitary or unsafe conditions), resulting from
a hazard.
128. The usual source of official records for deaths and causes of death, where it could be determined,
are via civil registration authorities and the Ministry of Health, which is responsible for
maintaining and monitoring health information systems. However, in the event of a disaster,
records for deaths or missing are, in the short-term, more commonly a responsibility of the
national disaster management agency in partnership with the Ministry of Health and others as part
of the disaster response and the broader compilation of impacts from the disaster. These figures
are reported by different levels of local and national government and usually at some stage are
shared in official reports to the general public via the press. Commonly there is a need to revise
original reported counts on deaths (and other human impacts) following the emergency and after
sufficient time to assess the sources of data and account for all of the cases. The revised figures
must be stored in the centralized compilations of disaster impacts statistics across occurrences and
utilized for calculating indicators.
129. A key consideration at this stage of compilation of revised figures is ensuring that the final
official counts of deaths after a disaster are also incorporated into the broader official system of
administrative records (i.e. the civil registration system) and statistics, which is also the source
used for the long-term and comprehensive official statistics on mortality and health of the
population. These administrative sources have many important uses, including for estimating the
rate of growth of populations and for investigating public health issues, such as trends in mortality
from different types of health challenges. Civil and health administrative records contain
confidential information, but can be utilized to produce broad summary statistics for describing
trends in the population without revealing private information about individuals.
Injured and ill
130. Besides deaths, the other two main physical impacts from disasters to humans are injuries and
illness. Injuries and illness have direct and indirect costs for households. The relative importance
of injuries or illnesses will vary depending on the characteristics of the underlying hazard as well
as on social factors, especially the vulnerability factors of the population in an affected area.
Sample Table: Illness/ Injuries in Bangladesh with demographic disaggregation, 2006-2015
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45
Bangladesh
C2a1 - Age groups TOTAL
C2a2 - Sex TOTAL
0-4 5-60 60+ Male Female
Illness 330378 1472750 87605 1890733 990769 899966 1890735
Injuries 2324 25273 5309 32906 19126 13782 32908
Source: Bangladesh Disaster-related Statistics, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics 201
131. In Bangladesh, for example, illness is a more frequently occurring impact from disasters
compared to injuries, overall. But, the frequencies for injuries or illnesses vary by hazard type and
also depending on the age and gender of the exposed population.
132. Injuries an illness causes economic costs to household, both directly and indirectly (via insurance
premiums). Since direct economic loss measurement (see previous section) is limited to the costs
associated with material impacts to assets, medical costs (and other related logistical costs)
associated with responding to the emerging and the physiological (including psychological)
impacts to people should compiled as additional measures for accounting for the overall
economic costs of disasters.
Displaced Populations
133. One of the immediate and conspicuous ways in which lives and livelihoods can be impacted after
a disaster is though temporary or permanent displacement. Displacement statistics are organized
according to two characteristics: length of time and whether or not displacement was arranged (or
ordered or financed) by governing agencies.
134. For all types of movement of the population after hazard, including evacuations and permanent
relocations of people due to a disaster, the suggested term is displacement.
135. In the adopted terminology for the Sendai Framework (UNGA, 2016), evacuation is defined as:
“moving people and assets temporarily to safer places before, during or after the occurrence of a
hazardous event in order to protect them.” Evacuations are not considered part of “affected
population” according to the Sendai Framework indicators because evacuation is also a method of
disaster risk reduction. However, at the level of the basic statistics, both analytical perspectives
can be accommodated.
136. Sometimes, there are also voluntary evacuations, in which households temporarily relocate from
a hazard area on their own expense (e.g. temporarily residing with family in another part of the
country). In this case, use of household surveys, and/or estimation is required for estimating the
counts of individuals or households affected.
137. For cases where evacuations are carefully managed, basic social and demographic characteristics
of the evacuated population are collected as part of administration of the evacuation plan by the
responsible government authorizes (usually social welfare ministries)
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46
138. The other common cause of displacement after a disaster is displacement caused by a damaged
or destroyed dwellings. In the extreme cases, dwellings are completely destroyed, effectively
leaving households homeless and in need of immediate relocation to another site. Another
possibility includes minor damages that could be repaired but require a temporary relocation of
the household for safety reasons. There are also cases where the dwelling structure may have
received negligible damages but due to the changes o circumstances regarding the location of the
dwelling, the area is deemed unsafe for continued residential occupation. For all cases, the
statistics can be summarized most broadly according to permanent or temporary displacement.
139. The tables below show some sample statistics on evacuations for Philippines and Indonesia
collected from national official sources. In the case of the Philippines, the term “displaced” was
used for numbers of people evacuated as result of a disaster.
Sample Table 3: Evacuations in the Philippines by Hazard Type and Geographic Region,
2013-15
Source: Philippines Department of National Defense and Philippines Statistics Authority, via DRSF Pilot Study, 2016 Sample Table: Number of people evacuated by region and hazard type in Indonesia (2015)
IND
ON
ESIA
Province
EVACUATED
Drought Earthquake Flood Flood and
Landslide Landslide
Tidal Wave/ Abrasion
Tornado
Aceh 0 0 36522 68 456 336 29491
Bali
0
0
Bangka Belitung
0 0 0
0
geophysicalmeteorologi
caltotal
Region I (Ilocos) 567,177 567,177
Region II (Cagayan Valley) 724,559 724,559
Region III (Central Luzon) 2,227,691 2,227,691
Region IV-A (Calabarzon) 561,932 561,932
Region IV-B (Mimaropa) 44,183 44,183
Region V (Bicol) 2,131,495 2,131,495
Region VI (Western Visayas) 99 2,471,882 2,471,981
Region VII (Central Visayas) 465047 870,617 1,335,664
Region VIII (Negros Island Region) 1,949,110 1,949,110
Region IX (Zamboanga Peninsula) 3,600 3,600
Region X (Northern Mindanao) 73,003 73,003
Region XI (Davao Region) 207,057 207,057
Region XII (Soccsksargen) 129,368 129,368
Region XIII (Caraga) 536,806 536,806
National Capital Region (NCR) 264,323 264,323
Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) 239,936 239,936
Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) 27,116 27,116
National total (unadjusted) 465146 13029855 13495001
DISPLACED
PH
ILIP
PIN
ES
DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION – please do not quote or reference
47
Banten
0 0
0
0
Bengkulu
0 0 0 0 0
Central Java 0 0 2833 25 1166
700
Central Kalimantan
0
0
0
Central Sulawesi
0 200 375 4 East Java 0 0 1040 0 760 0 5
East Kalimantan
0 10 0 5 0 12165
East Nusa Tenggara 0
85
1190
5439
Gorontalo
406
0
522
Jakarta
1762
5997
7419
Jambi
150
0
0
Lampung
0
0
0
Maluku 4 0 8 423 12
1069
North Kalimantan
2238
0
11
North Maluku
11796 0
0
North Sulawesi
4031
3672
583
North Sumatra
0 75 77 500
11113
Papua
0
0
0
Riau
0 55 0 0
86
Riau Islands
0
0
792
South Kalimantan
0 0 0
0
South Sulawesi
30 103
211 0 40
South Sumatra
0 0 0 0
0
Southeast Sulawesi
0 65
0
West Java
0 1577 65 11825 0 4154
West Kalimantan
51 0 1740
8
West Nusa Tenggara
0 600 0 2500
0
West Papua
0 West Sulawesi
0
0
0
West Sumatra
0 1854 0 8382
75
Yogyakarta
0
22
3
National Total 4 30 65461 1033 38442 336 73675
Source: Informasi Bencana Indonesia (DIBI): http://dibi.bnpb.go.id
140. An interesting example relating to the other main type of displacement comes from the case New
Zealand in which the Population and Housing Census was used to asses changes in the stocks of
dwellings after a series of major earthquakes in Canterbury province. The National Statistics
Office of New Zealand also studied other types of e impacts of the earthquake on housing (see
Goodyear, 2014), such as investigating the pre and post-disaster trends in numbers of occupied
dwellings, household deprivation and crowding, and numbers of people living in ‘other private
dwellings’ (e.g. mobile dwelling or motor camps).
DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION – please do not quote or reference
48
Sample Table: Estimated changes in occupied private dwelling stocks, Christchurch, New
Zealand , 2001-2013
DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION – please do not quote or reference
49
Impacts to livelihood
141. Impacts (or disruptions) to livelihoods is a concept from the internationally adopted
recommendation for the Sendai Framework monitoring (UNGA, 2016). The concept is broad and
measurement for Sendai Framework indicators is deferred to national practices. UNISDR
guidance defines livelihoods as: “the capacities, productive assets (both living and material) and
activities required for securing a means of living, on a sustainable basis, with dignity.”
142. A core factor for sustainable livelihood of most households, not already covered elsewhere in the
framework, is employment. Impacts to employment are measured similarly with disruptions to
basic services, i.e. in terms of number of people affected and length of time.
143. Utilizing a household survey specially designed for evaluating impacts from disasters,
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics reported statistics on impacts to employment (and other basic
factors of livelihood like access to water and sanitation) across the affected population, according
to numbers of individuals affected by geographic regions and in terms distribution in ranges of
number of losses of days.
Sample Table: Number of Households experiencing disruptions to employment or in access to
water and sanitation due to disasters, Bangladesh 2009-2014
Division Disruptions to Employment
Disrupted access to water and sanitation
Barisal Division 4361261 108501
Chittagong Division 818137 77650
Dhaka Division 430540 139357
Khulna Division 931668 120061
Rajshahi Division 668873 56920
Rangpur Division 613704 55125
Sylhet Division 488564 55859
Bangladesh 409776 613474 Source: Bangladesh Disaster-related Statistics 2015
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50
Sample Table: Number of Households missing work due to disasters by hazards and
distribution by number of days missed, Bangladesh, 2009-2014
Division/District
Working days
Total Number of Days
1-7 8-15 16-30 31+ Total
Bangladesh 395088 400737 230251 52042 1078118
Barisal Division 170240 81965 7721 4888 264814
Chittagong Divition 69765 35149 10533 696 116143
Dhaka Division 54301 86973 57418 1639 200332
Khulna Division 19748 15277 28073 14027 77125
Rashahi Division 12524 25427 29323 24978 92251
Rangpur Division 44140 51930 30453 3217 129740
Sylhet Division 24370 104015 66731 2598 197713 Source: Bangladesh Disaster-related Statistics 2015
Disruptions to basic services
144. Disasters are defined as disruptions to the functioning of a community or a society (UNGA,
2016), and some particular types of disruptions can be estimated based on the available data on
material impacts from disasters.
145. Disruptions to services from material impacts, like all other impacts tables, can be presented
according to hazard types (as in Table D2a below) and/or according to geographic regions within
the country. These statistics are an extension of direct impacts to critical infrastructure (Table
D2).
Table D2a Disruptions to Basic Services from a Disaster by Hazard Type
DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION – please do not quote or reference
51
Aggregated statistics on human impacts
146. There are many ways that human impact statistics can be presented or aggregated in summary
tables. This is a choice of presentation for dissemination of statistics, rather than a conceptual
decision, but the structure of tables also can substantively affect the aggregations of combined
counts of multiples types of human impacts from disasters. Databases can always be queried in
multiple ways for multiple purposes. The presentation and organized structure of human impacts
tabulation will vary depending on the requests of users. The figure below demonstrates one way
(among several possibilities) of structuring human impact variables with the scope of the basic
range of disaster-related statistics.
Figure 10: Sample structure of basic range of human impacts statistics
Geo
-ph
ysic
al
Hyd
rolo
gica
l
Met
eoro
logi
cal &
Clim
atal
ogi
cal
Bio
logi
cal
Oth
er
TOTA
L
Disruptions to Basic services from a Disaster1 Health services Sendai D-7 Sendai D-7 Sendai D-7 Sendai D-7 Sendai D-7 Sendai D-7
1.1 No. of people
1.2 Length of time
2 Educational services Sendai D-6 Sendai D-6 Sendai D-6 Sendai D-6 Sendai D-6 Sendai D-6
2.1 No. of people
2.2 Length of time
3 Public administration services Sendai D-8 Sendai D-8 Sendai D-8 Sendai D-8 Sendai D-8 Sendai D-8
3.1 No. of people
3.2 Length of time
4 Transport services
4.1 No. of people
4.2 Length of time
5 Electricity and energy services
5.1 No. of people
5.2 Length of time
6 Water services
6.1 No. of people
6.2 Length of time
7 ICT services
7.1 No. of people
7.2 Length of time
8 Other basic services
8.1 No. of people
8.2 Length of time
9 Total disruptions Sendai D-5 Sendai D-5 Sendai D-5 Sendai D-5 Sendai D-5 Sendai D-5
Hazard types
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147. There is a broad demand for aggregated counts of “affected population” after a disaster, for
example as an indicator for international monitoring of the Sendai Framework (UNGA, 2015).
UNISDR Guidance has ruled out, for purposes of international monitoring of indicators for
Sendai Framework monitoring, adjustments for multiple counts of the same individual, which
may be affected by the same disaster in several ways – for example an individual experiences an
injury, a damaged dwelling, and a temporary loss of employment. This means the Sendai
Framework “affected population” indicator is actually a count of number of impacts, rather than
number of people.
148. For other purposes or compilations of statistics, another possibility is to estimate an adjustment
for multiple counts as an additional aggregation (variables 1.9 and 1.10 in Table C3) measured in
terms of numbers of people. Both aggregations (in terms or counts of cases of impacts or counts
of people) are relevant for users and should be possible to estimate utilizing the same basic
underlying sources of data.
149. A similar situation can be observed for several other areas of social statistics, such as (e.g.)
statistics on domestic violence or abuse. For statistics on domestic violence, usually there are
multiple categories of abuse reported (e.g. physical, verbal/psychological, sexual, other) and
sometimes, the same individuals may be affected by multiple categories of abuse. Thus, there are
two potential aggregated statistics among the relevant populations: total number of people
affected by abuse and total number of individual cases of abuse across all categories. Another
example arose with the demand for measurement of population living in slums. Slum-dwelling
households are defined according to a list of either/or categories. The aggregated number, which
Hu
man
Imp
acts
Physically Affected
Dead
Missing
Injured or Ill Displaced
Other Impacts to Livelihood
Damged or Destroyed Dwelling (1.1.4)
Loss of employment
Otherwise Affected
Received humanitarian assistance
(e.g. food or assistance with evacutionn)
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is also an international SDG indicator, is calculated as the number of households experiencing at
least one or more of the defining characteristics of slums:
(a)Durable housing of a permanent nature that protects against extreme climate conditions;
(b)Sufficient living space which means not more than three people sharing the same room;
(c)Durable housing of a permanent nature that protects against extreme climate conditions;
(d) Sufficient living space which means not more than three people sharing the same room;
(e)Easy access to safe water in sufficient amounts at an affordable price;
(f) Access to adequate sanitation in the form of a private or public toilet shared by a
reasonable number of people.
(g) Security of tenure that prevents forced evictions.
(h) Easy access to safe water in sufficient amounts at an affordable price.
150. Since there are many categories of human impacts included in the basic range of disaster-related
statistics, there are multiple sets of double-counting adjustments for consideration in each
aggregation, multiplied by the number of categories that are non-exclusive, e.g.: injured/ill,
displaced and otherwise affected.
151. The Venn diagram below is a visualization of the different types of multiple counts (a,b,c,d)
from a hypothetical example. In practice, measurement of counts for each individual case of
multiple counts may not be feasible because it requires matching identification of individuals for
different impacts (potentially recorded from different data sources). However, a general estimate
(N) for individual counts for situations ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, an ‘d’ is sufficient for making an estimated
adjustment from the number of impacts to counts of individuals. The adjustment is equal to N
f(a+b+c+d)-1.
Figure 10: Venn Diagram of cases of multiple counts for individuals impacted by a disaster.
2e) Disaster Risk Reduction Activities
h f e a
b c d
g
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152. The Sendai Framework describes disaster risk reduction (DRR) as a scope of work “aimed at
preventing new and reducing existing disaster risk and managing residual risk, all of which
contributes to strengthening resilience. DRR encompasses all aspects of work including the
management of residual risk, i.e. managing risks that cannot be prevented nor reduced, and are
known to give rise to, or already, materialize into a disaster event.” (United Nations, 2015)
153. In order to make a case for increases or improvements in DRR, a sufficiently accurate
quantification of the existing activities is needed. Government and other entities allocate budgets
to DRR and information on these activities is needed to determine effective means, within the
different contexts of disaster risk, to identify new projects or investment opportunities that could
significantly reduce risk or prevent unacceptable risks of impacts from a disaster.
154. Another important purpose for measuring and monitoring DRR activities and expenditures is
they can be critical inputs for estimating the economic costs from disasters, since a large part of
post-disaster recovery is support for basic needs of affected communities and the reconstruction
effort, good as overall indicators of economic impacts.
155. Often the publically-financed disaster risk reduction activities, particularly disaster recovery, are
transfers from budget from central government to local authorities, and/or international transfers
(e.g. ODA). These transfers can be tracked through balance of payments and national accounts
statistics, just as with other types of transfers and activities (production, investment, employment)
in the economy as long as the activities with a DRR purpose can be specifically identified and
isolated from the broader national figures.
156. There are two complementary approaches that can be applied for isolating the relevant values
and producing statistics on DRR activities, particularly the quantifications, in monetary terms, of
DRR transfers and expenditures.
157. The first approach is to produce a focused analysis of transfers from relevant institutions and to
analyze transfers and expenditures on a particular geographic region and time period where there
is a large-scale disaster recovery underway. This is an application of the existing statistics on
government finance and statistics derived from administrative records or outcomes of surveys or
censuses on the activities of businesses and households. A second approach is to develop a series
of functional accounts and indicators that track all types of transfers and expenditures in the
economy with a specific DRR purpose.
158. The tool that statisticians use to produce the economic statistics in the latter approach is to
develop specific functional classifications in order to define the domain of interest. DRR-
characteristic activities (DRRCA) are defined (in order to objectively identify shares of
expenditures or transfers with a DRR purpose) and classified.
159. The provisional classification of DRRCA is developed (see detail in Chapter 3), starting from the
Sendai Framework and the recently adopted terminology adopted by the UN General Assembly.
(UNGA, 2016). Following the Sendai Framework definition for disaster risk reduction, the
scope of DRRCA. activities is:
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a) Disaster Risk Prevention
b) Disaster Risk Mitigation
c) Disaster Management
d) Disaster Recovery
e) General Government, Research & Development, Education Expenditure
Disaster risk reduction characteristic transfers include:
a) Internal transfers between public government services
b) Risk transfers, insurance premiums and indemnities
c) Disaster related international transfers
d) Other transfers
160. The same approach is also utilized for several other important cross-cutting domains of
economies (e.g. health, tourism, education), often designed as “satellite accounts”, which refers
to their nature as specially designed extracts (or “satellites”) of the system of national accounts
(SNA).
161. Typical outputs from accounts of expenditures or transfers of DRR activity, following the basic
framework of the SNA, will include:
a. Total national expenditure with a DRR purpose
b. DRR expenditure by source of financing (e.g. central government, local government,
private sector)
c. DRR expenditures and transfer by beneficiaries
d. DRR expenditure by type of DRR activity (e.g. disaster preparedness, recovery and
reconstruction, early warning systems, etc.)
e. Values of transfers from central government to local authorities
f. Values of transfers from international donors – i.e. DRR-related overseas
development assistance (ODA).
162. While hazards and disasters are events happening randomly in terms of timing and in relation to
the society, DRR is a continuous activity needed to strengthen society’s resistance and resilience
and thus DRR statistics should be compiled on a continuous and periodic basis (e.g. as annual
accounts). In this way, DRR statistics become an integrated and relatively conventional domain of
statistics, as an extension to the existing national accounts.
163. However, as there may be special demands for analysis of DRR activities at certain periods, such
as after a large-scale disaster, regular compilations of accounts of DRR expenditures and transfers
are complemented by specially designed studies and statistics for analyses of specific events or
to improve the understanding of the effectiveness of DRR investments made before or after a
disaster.
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Part 2: Guidelines for Implementation
Chapter 3: Statistical Classifications and Definitions
164. This chapter elaborates classifications for two concepts introduced in Chapter 2, developed in
detail with an aim to improve comparability of disaster-related statistics: (i) direct material
impacts, and (ii) disaster risk reduction characteristics activities (DRRCA).
165. Most of the groupings and definitions utilized in this draft section come from one of two sources
referenced as [UNGA, 2016], which refers to the “Report of the open-ended intergovernmental
expert working group on indicators and terminology relating to disaster risk reduction” or [SNA,
2008], which refers to the 2008 edition of the System of National Accounts. Also utilized for
definitional reference is the UN Central Product Classification (CPC ver. 2.1) and the System of
Environmental-Economic Accounts –Central Framework (SEEA, 2012).
Direct Material Impacts Classification
166. An indicator for international monitoring of direct economic loss for the Sendai Framework and
SDG indicators is defined as measurement, at first in physical terms, and then valuation in
monetary terms of physical damages to assets from a disaster.
167. An asset is a store of value representing a benefit or series of benefits accruing to the economic
owner by holding or using the entity over a period of time. It is a means of carrying forward value
from one accounting period to another. [SNA para. 3.5]. Assets are the objects of damages from
disasters and they come in a wide variety of forms, including buildings, machinery, inventories,
and land. In addition, household consumer durables are important objects of damages from a
hazard.
168. Creating a comparable and consistent for measurement of material impacts from a disaster (and,
subsequently, economic loss valuation) across disaster occurrences needs to be built upon a clear
and precise delineation of the scope of measurement – i.e. the objects of material impact. A
harmonized scope of measurement and categorization can be defined with reference to a standard
classification, building upon the definition of assets from the SNA, among other references,
presented below.
169. In addition, a specialized functional sub-category for critical infrastructure is required to
measure direct impacts specifically to critical infrastructure. The scope of measurement for
material impacts can be defined at the national level with reference to this classification, and with
a recommended prioritization for critical infrastructure.
170. Critical infrastructure is the physical structures, facilities, networks and other assets which
provide services that are essential to the social and economic functioning of a community or
society. [UNGA p.13, 2016] The detail classification for critical infrastructure is presented below
as an elaboration of the broader classification, given its special importance for disaster-related
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statistics, and not as a duplication. Please note that one of the basic principles of statistical
classifications is that they are mutually exclusive, i.e. the same item is not replicated in multiple
locations within the classification.
171. Each fixed asset can be damaged or destroyed (illustrated below for the case of dwellings only).
Destroyed assets are asset with total damages, which are beyond repair. A destroyed asset is a
total loss in terms of asset value and replacement would require a complete reconstruction.
2.1 Direct impacts on fixed assets (SNA asset definition)
2.1.1 Dwellings:
Dwellings are buildings, or designated parts of buildings, that are used entirely or primarily as
residences, including any associated structures, such as garages, and all permanent fixtures
customarily installed in residences. Houseboats, barges, mobile homes and caravans used as principal
residences of households are also included, as are public monuments identified primarily as dwellings.
[SNA 10.68]
2.1.1.1 Dwellings destroyed
2.1.1.2 Dwellings damaged
2.1.2 Buildings and structures
Buildings: Buildings other than dwellings include whole buildings or parts of buildings not designated
as dwellings. Fixtures, facilities and equipment that are integral parts of the structures are included.
Public monuments identified primarily as non-residential buildings are also included. [SNA 10.74]
Examples include products included in CPC 2.0 class 5312, non-residential buildings, such as
warehouses and industrial buildings, commercial buildings, buildings for public entertainment, hotels,
restaurants, schools, hospitals, prisons etc. Prisons, schools and hospitals are regarded as buildings
other than dwellings despite the fact that they may shelter institutional households. [SNA 10.75]
Structures: Other structures include structures other than buildings, including the cost of the streets,
sewer, etc. The costs of site clearance and preparation are also included. Public monuments for which
identification as dwellings or non-residential buildings is not possible are included as are shafts,
tunnels and other structures associated with mining mineral and energy resources, and the
construction of sea walls, dykes, flood barriers etc. intended to improve the quality and quantity of
land adjacent to them. The infrastructure necessary for aquaculture such as fish farms and shellfish
beds is also included. [SNA 10.76]
Examples also include products included in CPC 2.0 group 532, civil engineering works, such as
highways, streets, roads, railways and airfield runways; bridges, elevated highways, tunnels and
subways; waterways, harbours, dams and other waterworks; long-distance pipelines, communication
and power lines; local pipelines and cables, ancillary works; constructions for mining and
manufacture; and constructions for sport and recreation. [SNA 10.77]
2.1.2.1 Critical buildings and structures: Critical buildings and structures are defined as a sub-
category of assets for disaster statistics (see elaboration below)
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2.1.2.2 Other buildings and structures: Buildings and structures not designated as critical
2.1.3 Machinery and equipment:
Machinery and equipment cover transport equipment, machinery for information, communication and
telecommunications (ICT) equipment, and other machinery and equipment. Tools that are relatively
inexpensive and purchased at a relatively steady rate, such as hand tools, are excluded. Also excluded
are machinery and equipment integral to buildings that are included in dwellings and non-residential
buildings. Machinery and equipment acquired for military purposes are included, except for weapons
systems, which form another category. [SNA 10.82]
2.1.3.1 Critical machinery and equipment:
Critical machinery and equipment are defined as a sub-category of assets for disaster statistics (see
below)
2.1.3.2 Other machinery and equipment:
Other machinery and equipment consists of machinery and equipment not elsewhere classified.
Examples include products other than parts and items identified in other categories of fixed capital
formation included in the International Central Product Classification (CPC), Ver.2.0 divisions 43,
general purpose machinery; 44, special purpose machinery; 45, office, accounting and computing
equipment; 46, electrical machinery and apparatus; 47, radio, television and communication
equipment and apparatus; and 48, medical appliances, precision and optical instruments, watches and
clocks.
2.1.4 Environmental Resources
Not all environmental resources qualify as economic assets. It is useful to delineate the naturally
occurring resources that fall within the asset boundary of the SNA from those that do not and cannot
therefore be assessed as economic loss in monetary terms consistently with the SNA. To qualify as an
economic asset, the asset must be capable of bringing economic benefit to an institutional unit [SNA
10.168].
Several other relevant distinctions are made for environmental resources in the SNA and in the
System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA). The SEEA is an internationally agreed
standard for producing comparable statistics on the environment and its relationship with the
economy. The SEEA framework follows a similar accounting structure as the System of National
Accounts (SNA) and uses concepts, definitions and classifications consistent with the SNA in order to
facilitate the integration of environmental and economic statistics.
The SEEA emphasizes the importance of natural resources for physical inputs into the economy.
Natural resources include all natural biological resources (including timber and aquatic
resources),mineral and energy resources, soil resources and water resources. [SEEA 2.101, 5.18 and
SNA 10.15].
The SNA further distinguishes between cultivated and non-cultivated natural resources. Cultivated
biological resources cover animal resources yielding repeat products and tree, crop and plant
resources yielding repeat products whose natural growth and regeneration are under the direct control,
responsibility and management of institutional units. [SEEA 5.24 and SNA10.88].
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2.1.4.1 Agriculture land, livestock, fish stocks, and managed forests
2.1.4.1.1 Land
Land consists of the ground, including the soil covering and any associated surface waters, over which
ownership rights are enforced and from which economic benefits can be derived by their owners by
holding or using them. The value of land excludes any buildings or other structures situated on it or
running through it; cultivated crops, trees and animals; mineral and energy resources; non-cultivated
biological resources and water resources below the ground. The associated surface water includes any
inland waters (reservoirs, lakes, rivers, etc.) over which ownership rights can be exercised and that
can, therefore, be the subject of transactions between institutional units. However, water bodies from
which water is regularly extracted, against payment, for use in production (including for irrigation)
are included not in water associated with land but in water resources. [SNA 10.175]
Land improvements are the result of actions that lead to major improvements in the quantity, quality
or productivity of land, or prevent its deterioration. [SNA 10.79]
Managed Forest (area): Tree, crop and plant resources yielding repeat products cover plants whose
natural growth and regeneration are under the direct control, responsibility and management of
institutional units. They include trees (including vines and shrubs) cultivated for fruits and nuts, for
sap and resin and for bark and leaf products. [SNA 10.95]
2.1.4.1.2 Livestock & Fisheries
Animal resources yielding repeat products cover animals whose natural growth and regeneration are
under the direct control, responsibility and management of institutional units. They include breeding
stocks, dairy cattle, draft animals, sheep or other animals used for wool production and animals used
for transportation, racing or entertainment. Animals raised for slaughter, including poultry, are not
fixed assets but inventories. Immature cultivated assets are excluded unless produced for own use.
This includes aquatic resources yielding repeat products, consisting of aquatic resources maintained
for controlled reproduction.
Although the SNA recommends to exclude immature animals in valuation, immature animals must be
included for calculating direct impacts from disasters. Immature animals are particularly vulnerable to
hazards and accumulate value in the future, post-disaster period, though natural growth (recorded as
capital accumulation in the SNA). However, according, to the SNA, mature animals should be valued
at their market value in exchange at the time of the disaster.
2.1.4.1.3 Agricultural Crops
Work-in-progress consists of output produced by an enterprise that is not yet sufficiently processed to
be in a state in which it is normally supplied to other institutional units. Work-in-progress occurs in all
industries, but is especially important in those in which some time is needed to produce a unit of
finished output, for example, in agriculture, or in industries producing complex fixed assets such as
ships, dwellings, software or films. Although work-in progress is output that has not reached the state
in which it is normally supplied to others, its ownership is nevertheless transferable, if necessary. For
example, it may be sold under exceptional circumstances such as the liquidation of the enterprise.
[SNA 10.134]
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2.1.4.1.2 Primary forests and other uncultivated resources
Uncultivated natural resources cover fish stocks and unmanaged forests are part of non-cultivated
biological resources consist of animals, birds, fish and plants that yield both once-only and repeat
products over which ownership rights are enforced but for which natural growth or regeneration is not
under the direct control, responsibility and management of institutional units. Examples are virgin
forests and fisheries within the territory of the country. Only those resources that are currently, or are
likely soon to be, exploitable for economic purposes should be included. [SNA 10.182]
Fish stocks
Non-cultivated biological resources and include fish in fish farms and fish living in the wild [SNA
10.182]
Soil resources
Comprise the top layers (horizons) of soil that form a biological system. [SEEA 5.320]
Primary forest
Naturally regenerated forest of native species, where there are no clearly visible indications of human
activities and the ecological processes are not significantly disturbed. Key characteristics of primary
forests are that: (a) they show natural forest dynamics, such as natural tree species composition,
occurrence of dead wood, natural age structure and natural regeneration processes; (b) the area is
large enough to maintain its natural characteristics; and (c) there has been no known significant
human intervention or the last significant human intervention occurred long enough in the past to have
allowed the natural species composition and processes to have become re-established. [SEEA 5.286]
Freshwater resources
Consist of fresh and brackish water in inland water bodies, including groundwater[SEEA 5.474]
2.2. Direct impacts on household consumer durables
A consumer durable is a good that may be used for purposes of consumption repeatedly or
continuously over a period of a year or more (exluding dwellings and valuables). A key example
relevant for disaster impacts is cars used for household own-use purposes.
2.3 Direct impacts on valuables (SNA asset definition)
Valuables are produced goods of considerable value that are not used primarily for purposes of
production or consumption but are held as stores of value over time. Valuables are expected to
appreciate or at least not to decline in real value, nor to deteriorate over time under normal conditions.
They consist of precious metals and stones, jewellery, works of art, etc. Valuables may be held by all
sectors of the economy. [SNA 10.13]
2.3.1 Art objects, music instruments:
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Paintings, sculptures, etc., recognized as works of art and antiques are treated as valuables when they
are not held by enterprises for sale. In principle, museum exhibits are included under valuables. [SNA
10.153]
2.3.2 Other valuables:
Other valuables not elsewhere classified include such items as collections of stamps, coins, china,
books etc. that have a recognized market value and fine jewellery, fashioned out of precious stones,
and metals of significant and realizable value. [SNA 10.154]
2.4 Critical goods & services
Goods: Goods are physical, produced objects for which a demand exists, over which ownership rights
can be established and whose ownership can be transferred from one institutional unit to another by
engaging in transactions on markets. The production and exchange of goods are quite separate
activities. Some goods may never be exchanged while others may be bought and sold numerous times.
The production of a good can always be separated from its subsequent sale or resale.[SNA 6.15]
Services: Services are the result of a production activity that changes the conditions of the consuming
units, or facilitates the exchange of products or financial assets. These types of service may be
described as change-effecting services and margin services respectively. Change-effecting services
are outputs produced to order and typically consist of changes in the conditions of the consuming
units realized by the activities of producers at the demand of the consumers. Change-effecting
services are not separate entities over which ownership rights can be established. They cannot be
traded separately from their production. By the time their production is completed, they must have
been provided to the consumers. [SNA 6.17]
Disruptions to critical Services (or “basic services”) is one of the defining impacts of disasters and the
focus for Sendai Framework Target D: “Substantially reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure
and disruption of basic services”. In this context, the critical services are:
Health Services (CPC 86: “Human health services”)
Educational Services (ISIC 85)
Public Administration Services (CPC 91 “Administrative services of the government”)
Transport Services (ISIC 49: “Land transport and transport via pipelines”, ISIC 50 “Water
transport” , ISIC 51: “Air transport”)
Electricity and Energy Services (ISIC 35: “Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning
supply”)
Water Services (ISIC 36: “ Water collection, treatment and supply”)
ICT Services (CPC 4 “Telecommunications, broadcasting and information supply
services”)
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The portions of these services provided by government are included as part of the UN Central Product
Classification (CPC rev 2.1)12, within Section 9: “Community, social and personal services” and in
the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities(ISIC Rev 4).
2.4.1 Inventories (SNA asset definition)
Agricultural inventories may be considered as critical goods and services, in selected cases.
Inventories are produced assets that consist of goods and services, which came into existence in the
current period or in an earlier period, and that are held for sale, used in production or other use at a
later date. Inventories consist of stocks of outputs that are still held by the units that produced them
prior to their being further processed, sold, delivered to other units or used in other ways and stocks of
products acquired from other units that are intended to be used for intermediate consumption or for
resale without further processing. Inventories of services consist of work-in-progress or finished
products, for example architectural drawings, which are in the process of completion or are completed
and waiting for the building to which they relate to be started. Inventories held by government
include, but are not limited to, inventories of strategic materials, and grain and other commodities of
special importance to the nation.
Finished goods consist of goods produced as outputs that their producer does not intend to process
further before supplying them to other institutional units. A good is finished when its producer has
completed his intended production process, even though it may subsequently be used as an
intermediate input into other processes of production. Thus, inventories of coal produced by a mining
enterprise are classified as finished products, although inventories of coal held by a power station are
classified under materials and supplies. Inventories of batteries produced by a manufacturer of
batteries are finished goods, although inventories of the same batteries held by manufacturers of
vehicles and aircraft are classified under materials and supplies. [SNA 10.142]
Critical infrastructures : elaboration for items [2.1.2], [2.1.3.1], [2.1.4]
Critical infrastructure: The physical structures, facilities, networks and other assets which provide
services that are essential to the social and economic functioning of a community or society. [UNGA
p.13]. Most critical infrastructures are usually assets involves in providing non-profit services,
according to the SNA.
2.1.2.1.1 Hospitals, health facilities: Defined as building in CPC under 5312 “non-residential
buildings”
2.1.2.1.2 Education facilities: Defined in CPC under 5312 “non-residential buildings”
2.1.2.1.3 Other critical public administration buildings
12 https://unstats.un.org/unsd/cr/registry/cpc-21.asp
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2.1.2.1.4 Public monuments: Public monuments are identifiable because of particular historical,
national, regional, local, religious or symbolic significance [SNA 10.78]
2.1.2.1.5 Roads: Defined in CPC under 532 “Civil engineering works”
2.1.2.1.6 Bridges: Defined in CPC under 532 “Civil engineering works”
2.1.2.1.7 Airports: “Passenger Transport Services (CPC 64); Freight Transport Services (CPC 65)
2.1.2.1.8 Piers: “Passenger Transport Services “(CPC 64); “Freight Transport Services” (CPC 65)
2.1.2.1.9 Railway Stations: “Passenger Transport Services “(CPC 64); “Freight Transport Services”
(CPC 65)
2.1.3.1.1 Transport equipment: Transport equipment consists of equipment for moving people and
objects. Examples include products other than parts included in CPC 2.0 division 49, transport
equipment, such as motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers; ships; railway and tramway locomotives
and rolling stock; aircraft and spacecraft; and motorcycles, bicycles, etc. [SNA 10.84]
2.1.3.1.2 Electricity generation facilities: Defined as structures and in CPC under 532 “Civil
engineering works”
2.1.3.1.3 Electricity grids: Defined as structures and in CPC under 532 “Civil engineering works”
2.1.3..1.4 ICT equipment: Information, computer and telecommunications (ICT) equipment consists
of devices using electronic controls and also the electronic components forming part of these devices.
Examples are products within CPC 2.0 categories 452 and 472. In practice, this narrows the coverage
of ICT equipment mostly to computer hardware and telecommunications equipment. [SNA 10.85]
2.1.3.1.5 Dams: Defined in CPC under 532 “Civil engineering works”
2.1.3.1.6 Water supply infrastructure: Defined in CPC under 532 “Civil engineering works”
2.1.3.1. 7 Water sewage & treatment systems: Defined in CPC under 532 “Civil engineering
works”
2.2.1 Agriculture land, livestock, fish stocks, and managed forests
2.5.15 Other non-public critical infrastructures
Disaster Risk Reduction Characteristic Activities (DRRCA)
Classification
172. The Sendai Framework describes disaster risk reduction (DRR) as a scope of work “aimed at
preventing new and reducing existing disaster risk and managing residual risk, all of which
contributes to strengthening resilience. DRR encompasses all aspects of work including the
management of residual risk, i.e. managing risks that cannot be prevented nor reduced, and are
known to give raise to, or already, materialize into a disaster event.”
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173. A tool that statisticians use to produce these economic statistics is to develop specific functional
classifications in order to define the domain of interest. In this case, DRR-characteristic
activities (DRRCA) are defined in order to objectively identify shares of expenditures or
transfers with a DRR purpose.
174. The terms, definitions and annotations of the DRRCA displayed below are extracted, as much as
possible and relevant, from UNGA (2016). Definitions are provided to set the scope for
organizing the data and metadata captured from relevant sources (e.g. government finance
statistics) and should be applied and adapted with more detailed activities and metadata
descriptions, as available, from national sources.
Disaster Risk Reduction Characteristic Activities (DRRCA) and Transfers
1. Disaster risk prevention Activities and measures to avoid existing and new disaster risks
a. Risk prevention in advance of hazardous event
The concept and intention to completely avoid potential adverse impacts of hazardous
events. While certain disaster risks cannot be eliminated, prevention aims at reducing
vulnerability and exposure in such contexts where, as a result, the risk of disaster is
removed. Examples include dams or embankments that eliminate flood risks, land-use
regulations that do not permit any settlement in high-risk zones, seismic engineering
designs that ensure the survival and function of a critical building in any likely earthquake
and immunization against vaccine-preventable diseases.
b. Risk prevention in or after hazardous event Prevention measures taken to prevent secondary hazards or their consequences such as
measures to prevent contamination of water supplies or measures to eliminate natural
dams resulting of earthquake induced landslides and/or rock falls.
2. Disaster risk mitigation Activities and measures to reduce or lessen existing disaster risk or to limit the adverse
impacts of a hazardous event
a. Structural measures, constructions
Structural measures: Any physical construction to reduce or avoid possible impacts of
hazards, or application of engineering techniques to achieve hazard resistance and
resilience in structures or systems. Common structural measures for disaster risk
reduction include constructed dams, flood levies, ocean wave barriers, earthquake-
resistant construction, and evacuation shelters. Structural measures will include
“building back better” immediately after a disaster.
b. Non-structural measures
Any measure not involving physical construction that uses knowledge, practice or
agreement to reduce risks and impacts through their integration in sustainable
development plans and programmes, in particular through policies and laws, public
awareness raising, training and education typically to reduce vulnerability and exposure.
Non-structural measures may include risk transfers paid/received (e.g. insurance
purchases).
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c. Land-use planning
Land- use planning can help to mitigate disasters and reduce risks by discouraging
settlements and construction of key installations in hazard-prone areas, including
consideration of service routes for transport, power, water, sewage and other critical
facilities.
d. Early warning systems management
Inter-related sets of hazard warning, risk assessment, communication and preparedness
activities that enable individuals, communities, businesses and others to take timely
action to reduce their risks.
3. Disaster risk management The organization and management of resources and responsibilities for creating and
implementing preparedness and addressing all aspects of emergencies and others plans to
respond to, and to decrease the impact of disasters. The plans set out the goals and specific
objectives for reducing disaster risks together with related actions to accomplish these
objectives. They should be guided by the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
2015-2030 and coordinated within relevant development plans, resource allocations and
programme activities.
a. Preparedness The knowledge and capacities developed by governments, professional response and
recovery organizations, communities and individuals to effectively anticipate, respond to,
and recover from, the impacts of likely, imminent or current disasters.
b. Emergency management National-level plans need to be specific to each level of administrative responsibility and
adapted to the different social and geographical circumstances that are present. The time
frame and responsibilities for implementation and the sources of funding should be
specified in the plan. Linkages to sustainable development and climate change adaptation
plans should be made where possible.
c. Other disaster responses
Includes provision of emergency services and public assistance by private and community
sectors, as well as community and volunteer participation.
Disaster responses includes medical costs for people injured or ill during the disaster.
According to SNA, these costs will include total expenditure on health measures the final
use by resident units of health care goods and services plus gross capital formation in
health care provider industries (institutions where health care is the predominant activity).
[SNA 29.135]
d. Emergency supply of commodities
Resources and responsibilities for providing emergency support of commodities during a
disaster.
4. Disaster Recovery The restoring or improving of livelihoods and health, as well as economic, physical,
social, cultural and environmental assets, systems and activities, of a disaster-affected
community or society, aligning with the principles of sustainable development and “build
back better”, to avoid or reduce future disaster risk.
a. Relocation Of people who, for different reasons or circumstances because of risk or disaster, have
moved permanently from their places of residence to new sites.
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b. Rehabilitation
The rapid and basic restoration of services and facilities for the return to normal
functioning of a community or a society affected by a disaster.
c. Reconstruction
The medium and longer-term repair and sustainable restoration of critical infrastructures,
services, housing, facilities and livelihoods required for full functioning of a community
or a society affected by a disaster.
5. General Government, Research & Development, Education Expenditure
a. General Government Expenditure for Disaster Risk Reduction
Expenditure, whose value must be estimated indirectly, incurred by general government
on both individual consumption goods and services and collective consumption services,
with an explicit disaster risk reduction purpose.
b. Research & Development, Risk assessment, and Information
Risk assessments (and associated risk mapping) include: a review of the technical
characteristics of hazards such as their location, intensity, frequency and probability; the
analysis of exposure and vulnerability including the physical social, health, economic and
environmental dimensions; and the evaluation of the effectiveness of prevailing and
alternative coping capacities in respect to likely risk scenarios. This series of activities is
sometimes known as a risk analysis process. ISO 31000 defines risk assessment as a process made up of three processes: risk
identification, risk analysis, and risk evaluation.
Risk information includes all studies, information and mapping required to understand the
risk drivers and underlying risk factors.
c. Education to Disaster Risk Reduction
Includes natural and engineering science, training of risks professional, risks specialized
medicine professionals
Chapter 4: Principles for Implementation
175. The Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics were adopted by the UN General Assembly at
its 68th Session in 2014. (A/RES/68/261)13. Guidelines for Implementation for the Fundamental
Principles of Official Statistics were developed and finalized by the UN Statistics Commission in
2015.14
176. Disaster-related statistics is an emerging area of official statistics, with special characteristics that
are unusual compared to some other more traditional domains of official statistics. However,
disaster-related statistics should be viewed as integrated extension of the broader national
statistics system, and thus its development should be in full alignment with the Fundamental
Principles as adopted by the UN General Assembly.
13 https://unstats.un.org/unsd/dnss/gp/FP-New-E.pdf 14 https://unstats.un.org/unsd/dnss/gp/impguide.aspx
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Statistical Coordination
177. Statistical coordination is an especially important factor for implementing DRSF because most of
the compilations of statistic involve a close collaboration between statistics offices, disaster
management agencies, and (in most cases) several other producers of official data.
178. The Fundamental Principles Implementation Guideline describes the scope of good practices in
Statistical Coordination as follows:
“The issue of statistical coordination is based on the conceptualization of coordination as the set
of processes and procedures for consolidating and achieving official statistics within an
institution or between institutions. Coordination usually involves two fields, conceptual
harmonization and institutional management.
The conceptual harmonization implies that, for all participants institutions in the management
of an official statistics, the variables have the same definition, are known and shared by national
or international classifications of the subject, are encoded in the same way, the methodology is
shared in all phases of the life cycle of the statistical operation, and in the best scenario, the
databases are shared.
Interagency coordination and management aims at the efficient management process within or
between institutions, i.e., mechanisms of communication, monitoring and control, and processes
and procedures of articulation.”
179. Disaster-related statistics databases, usually managed by disaster management agencies with
extensive utilization of statistics shared by national statistics offices and other agencies, must be
built upon a common, nationally-adopted set of terminologies and basic concepts for
measurement. Datasets, including complete metadata, should be shared between institutions,
where possible according to a regular update schedule.
180. An important coordination mechanism, particularly during early stages of development or
expansion in scope for a database, is to establish a multi-agency technical working group,
involving all key data providers across government and chaired by a senior official in the
institution responsible for managing the database.
181. The purpose and various analytical uses and principles objectives in terms of quality of the
database should be made explicit and utilized by the national working group as the terms of
reference for their coordination activities. The ultimate goal for statistical coordination and other
activities for statistics development should be to make official statistics as accessible as possible
for use in disaster risk reduction policy and related research.
Legal framework
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182. The Fundamental Principles Implementation guidelines provided links to examples of good
practices of national legal frameworks and related codes of practice for organizing and
implementing statistical work programmes.15 Legal frameworks provide clear responsibilities
for production of statistics and can help data producers to identify and consult with users.
183. For some components in the DRSF, disaster management agencies are involved in both the
production and use of official statistics in the analyses used to formulate policies. The
Fundamental principles of independence and impartiality of the statistics programmes should be
emphasized and statistics offices may be in a position to advise its partners on how to implement
impartiality and establish a legal framework for institutional responsibilities for producing and
sharing statistics related to disasters . “A strong position of independence is essential for a
statistical agency in order to establish credibility among its users.” (see UN Handbook of
Statistical Organization 2003, page 5)
184. “Choices of sources and statistical methods as well as decisions about the dissemination of
statistics are only made by statistical considerations. (See Fundamental Principle 2)
Confidentiality
185. “In order to maintain the trust of respondents it is the utmost concern of official statistics, to
secure the privacy of data providers (like households or enterprises) by assuring that no data is
published that might be related to an identifiable person or business.” (United Nations, 2015)
National Statistics offices are well experienced with protecting confidentiality of respondents, as a
fundamental principle for the practice of official statistics. Statistics offices rely on public
goodwill and cooperation and trust of respondents as a basic factor for producing timely and
accurate statistics.
186. Disaster statistics pose somewhat of a special case given that disasters are, by definition, unusual,
extreme events. There is a need for fairly detailed geographic disaggregation of statistical
information, especially for use in emergency response. However, the focus of DRSF tables is on
summary statistics, i.e aggregations and statistical summaries of information, which do not
include references to identification of individual households or businesses. In cases where access
to microdata (i.e. raw data sets) are required for research purposes, methods are available for
anonymizing microdata prior to release to researchers. The IHSN has developed guidance on
anonymization procedures for household surveys16, including links to software tools and
statistical programming codes that have been tested for anonymization of various survey datasets.
Transparency and Accessibility to Data and Metadata
187. Principle 1 of the Fundamental Principles for Official Statistics states:
“Official statistics provide an indispensable element in the information system of a democratic
society, serving the Government, the economy and the public with data about the economic,
demographic, social and environmental situation. To this end, official statistics that meet the test
15 https://unstats.un.org/unsd/dnss/gp/Implementation_Guidelines_FINAL_without_edit.pdf 16 http://www.ihsn.org/anonymization
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of practical utility are to be compiled and made available on an impartial basis by official
statistical agencies to honour citizens’ entitlement to public information.”
188. The resolution A/RES/68/261 of UN General Assembly stated that countries need to “facilitate a
correct interpretation of the data, the statistical agencies are to present information according to
scientific standards on the sources, methods and procedures of the statistics.”
189. Also, he Sendai Framework Priority for Action 1states that countries need to “promote and
enhance, through international cooperation, including technology transfer, access to and the
sharing and use of non-sensitive data and information, as appropriate, communications and
geospatial and space-based technologies and related services.”
190. The documentation of methods and core descriptions of data is an indispensable component of
any dataset or compilation used in official statistics. The Fundamental Principles of Official
Statistics Implementation Guide states: “Metadata is an important part of the standard
dissemination procedure for official statistics.”
191. “For the qualified users it is necessary not only to read the pure statistical results but also to have
a professional understanding of how the statistics have been produced. The qualified user will
reach the necessary understanding on how to use the statistical results only after knowledge about
data sources methods and procedures. This is why it is important that every statistic includes
relevant and scientific documentation.”
192. Many of the currently available data sources, internationally and nationally, of disaster-related
statistics are insufficiently documented, which limits their practical utility for users. As part of the
process for development of this handbook, the Expert Group reviewed many examples of
production and dissemination of statistics at international, national and local levels.
193. For cases where statistics were accompanied with metadata describing methods, many
differences were uncovered between data sources in terms of fundamentals like use of
terminology, scope of measurement, method of valuation, or type of data source. This situation
can lead to misleading comparisons or mixing of incoherent statistics. Not all statistics can be
standardized, and some differences in methods or in presentation of statistics is needed to meet
different uses in analysis. Wherever applicable, text from this handbook may be applied directly
as metadata attached to statistical tables. In other cases, this handbook can be referenced as a
baseline along with a description of divergences in methods or scope of measurement as applied
in practice. The descriptions of concepts and methods in this handbook can be used as a reference
towards harmonization of a basic range of disaster-related statistics or at least to clarify
relationships between variables produced for national or local purposes with the current
international guidance.
194. The International Household Survey Network (IHSN) has published comprehensive guidance on
metadata documentation of datasets. Although the founding focus for IHSN is survey datasets,
the IHSN recommendations on scope17 for metadata are broadly applicable for all types of
17 http://www.ihsn.org/documentation-scope
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datasets in DRSF. The Fundamental Principles Implementation Guideline also provides the
generally applicable guidelines for dissemination of micro data (see pgs. 55-56)
195. A centralized database on disaster-related statistics must include a strategically designed system
of unique identifiers and coding for individual disaster occurrences and their main characteristics.
Identifier codes within the datasets are an efficient method for linking data with metadata and to
establish explicit links between related variables within the database. Another requirement
particular for disaster statistics is the need to clearly define the scope of hazards incorporated in
the statistics, ideally in the form of a publically accessible national hazards glossary.
196. Each disaster occurrence may have many sources of data that are compiled and utilized to
describe the relevant variables attached to that particular occurrence. Usually, each data
collection, when integrated, is accompanied by a standard package of metadata explanations plus
notes on revisions or other pertinent details.
197. For statistics collection on a continuous basis, such as variables used for risk measurement and
statistics on disaster risk reduction activities, the metadata document can follow the usual
practices used for comparable data in the national statistical system.
198. Collection of data is an investment of resources. Comprehensive documentation of the outputs
from a data source is a vital protection for the value of the investment in statistics production for
future use. Metadata is a cornerstone for creating coherence across occurrences or across
datasets. For this s purpose, units of measurement, scope of measurement, definitions for key
technical terms, and methods used for monetary valuation, are all key examples of
methodological choices, for which multiple options are always possible, so documentation of
these choices, in a comprehensive manual, glossary, and/ or technical annex attached to statistical
releases is a fundamentally important standard practice.
Chapter 5: Basic Range of Disaster-related Statistics Tables & Data
Sources
Accompanying this document are spreadsheet containing detailed statistical tables - Basic Range
Summary Tables.xlsx which are sample output queries from a centralized disaster-related statistics
database. The sample tables, including the links to global indicators, are available for review from
the Expert Group Website here:
199. The basic range of disaster related statistics is the scope of data items relevant to this framework
and is described as a set of sample tables, see link above.
o A: Summary tables of disaster occurrences
o B: Selected Background Statistics and Exposure to hazards
o C: Summary tables of affected population
o D: Summary tables of direct material impacts in physical terms
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o E: Summary tables of direct material impacts in monetary terms
o F: Summary table of direct environmental impacts
o DRRE: Disaster risk reduction expenditure accounting
200. A collection of 5 types of DRSF tables have been developed to demonstrate the scope for a basic
range of disaster related statistics for prioritization and harmonization for national and
international analysis for evidence-basic disaster risk reduction policy development. The basic
range of disaster related statistics is a collection of potential output tables or queries from
centralized national disaster statistics databases. The tables could be used as sample templates to
help ensure completeness of compilations in disaster-related databases and referencing among
variables drawing from multiple data sources.
201. In practice, the tables will be adapted for each national context and the demands for reporting.
Not all elements within tables, will be available or relevant in all situations and national contexts.
Also, in many cases more detailed information than what is presented in the basic range of
disaster-related statistics will be available, or the data will be available in other formats, levels of
aggregation or other measurement units than what is presented. The tables represent a generic
example presentation to help national agencies to identify and develop their own systems for
efficient production of summary tables for a basic range of disaster related statistics according to
their own needs as well as for international reporting purposes.
202. A centralized database does not require that all related basic data be stored physically in the same
place or on the same server. Rather, the true objective should be for a centralized portal for which
the basic range of disaster-related statistics can be queried and reported seamlessly for more
efficient use in calculating indicators, conducting risk and post-disaster assessments, and other
purposes. Interagency coordination between regions and between national agencies is critical for
achieving this objective, including through the use of a common terminology, common
measurement principles for production and use of statistics, and a common digital system for
sharing data and metadata.
203. There are three main types of background statistics in the basic range of disaster-related
statistics: (i) counts and basic characteristics of disaster occurrences, (ii) background statistics
related to vulnerability and coping capacity, and (iii) statistics on exposure to hazards.
204. There are three main categories of direct impacts: (i) human impacts (affected population), (ii)
material impacts (includes critical infrastructure), and (iii) environmental impacts. Material
impacts are estimated at first in physical terms (D tables) and then, where possible, are calculated
in monetary terms (E tables).
205. The DRRE tables are sample accounting tables, to be developed, as special functional accounts
(or “satellite accounts”) of the national accounts, following standard practices of the System of
National Accounts (SNA).
Time period
206. The relevant time period for reporting the basic range of disaster-related statistics varies by
table and according to the analysis. From a well-structured and well-documented database, the
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impacts tables (C,D, E, & F tables) could be reported for virtually any time period, as needed for
the analysis. However, for most purposes, a minimum aggregated time period of at least 3-5 years
is the most relevant given randomness and large year-to-year fluctuations in disaster occurrences
and their impacts. For the Sendai Framework monitoring, for example, governments specified a
monitoring period of 2020-2030, as compared with 2005-2015 for the affected population
indicators.
207. Other components of the framework, i.e. Background statistics and the DRR activity statistics
(DRRE tables), represent activities that are continuous and based on data that compiled for
reporting on a regular basis – usually annually.
Measurement Units
208. For compilation of national statistics on material impacts of disasters, a broader range of
considerations and multiple options need to be considered and, ultimately, prioritized, in order to
produce statistics on direct impacts to critical infrastructure and to the economy. In most cases,
some initial proposals for first options regarding appropriate measurement units are noted in the
tables, as examples. Further options and related considerations are considered in further detail in
the next section of this chapter.
209. Measurement units for all basic range variables should always be specified as part of the
essential metadata in the tables.
Geographic regions
210. Geographic referencing is a crucial element for compilation of nearly all the components of the
basic range of disaster-related statistics. One of the advantages of working with data in
geographic information system (GIS) software is that statistics can be calculated and then
reported at virtually any geographic scale or for any type of specially designed functional
classifications of geographic areas (e.g. river basins, hazard areas). In many cases, results of
analyses will be sensitive to the geographic scale, and therefore flexibility for scale of analysis
(ability to zoom in or zoom out for specific areas of interest) is very important for users and one
of the key functions of organizing statistics in GIS. The sample DRSF tables provide a generic
presentation (“Geo Region 1”, “…”), adaptable to the different needs or availability of
geographically disaggregated data. GIS tools allow that virtually any statistical tables with
geographic referencing can also be presented for communication purposes as maps, and vice
versa.
211. Some key examples of categories for geographic disaggregation in the tables are: municipalities
(e.g. Admin level 03), regions or provinces (Admin level 01 or 02), hazard areas, river catchment
areas as specified by the relevant authorizes, coastal zones, or other environment-related
geographic regions that could be of relevance for analysis of the statistics.
Prioritization
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212. One of the purposes for developing a basic range of disaster-related statistics is to help national
statistical systems to identify and adopt priorities for statistical development related to disasters.
For statistical systems at an early stage in development of nationally harmonized disasters
statistics, a limited core, first-tier compilation of statistics can be useful as a basis for expanding
into use of a broader collection of data sources in the future.
213. In part, prioritization depends on the current priority policy questions for decision-makers in the
country. These priorities will vary but some common priorities can be identified for each of the
main types of disaster risk reduction decision-making.
214. Sendai Framework and SDG targets provide the broad macro-scale priorities for goals of policy
and a common international approach to monitoring progress. Within the tables, the input
variables (both numerators and denominators) used in internationally adopted indicators (SDGs
and Sendai Framework) have been highlighted and indicate references to the goals and target
codes. These and other nationally-identified indicators could help compilers of these statistics to
prioritize elements within the tables, if necessary.
215. Identifying a short-list of 1st-tier statistics should not lead to prioritization of coverage for these
statistics over their quality. Prioritization of qualitative aspects of the statistics is a function of the
expected uses. For example, if the statistics will be utilized in time series analysis (e.g. indicator
reporting and monitoring of progress over time), than consistency, metadata transparency and
international comparability are priority considerations for making the data accessible for their
intended uses. In contrast, during an emergency, urgent accessibility to data on exposure at
flexible scales is the first priority.
216. Another factor for prioritization for implementation of DRSF is building a strengthened basis
upon which to expand compilations of disaster-related information in the future. A systematic
and strategic approach to prioritization should prioritize data inputs that are utilized for multiple
analytical purposes and that could provide a core baseline measurement for building more
detailed analysis or disaggregated statistics for more focused and in-depth analyses. For example,
referring to Figure 5 in chapter 2, identification of a direct impact and four primary
characteristics of the disaster: timing, location, hazard type and magnitude, are minimum
requirements to identify disasters and describe their basic characteristics. Thus, these are core
systems components for developing databases or series for all other statistics on disaster impacts.
217. In the current practice, disaster occurrences and impacts information is typically stored as a set of
records (see, for example, Desinventar.org). Given a standardized use of reference to time
(“Start date”) and location (“geographic name”), basic statistics on disaster occurrences and
impacts could be queried from these underlying records for multiple disaster occurrences over a
specified period of time (e.g. 2015-2030). However, as documentation of the measurement and
data source is needed for each variable and each data collection is accompanied by, usually a
more functional database structure would involve separate collections of data according to the
different variables or sources of data, which are then linked together for production of statistical
tables using event identifiers or other linking variables (such as the year, location, and hazard
type).
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218. As an example, OECD produced a “data model” on impacts from disaster, adapted slightly
below. In this presentation, each box constitutes an individual compilation of data and metadata,
which are linked back to the unique event ID and may be queried according to any of the basic
characteristics of disasters.
Figure 11: Database Model for Disaster Impacts Statistics
219. Statistics that multiple applications in analysis can be prioritized as important building blocks to
the broader system as well. For example, exposure statistics, i.e. population, land and
infrastructure in hazard areas can have multiple purposes. They are used for risk assessment,
emergency response and also can be useful as baseline statistics for assessing the scale of impacts
after a disaster by comparing it with the reported figures for human and material impacts. Number
of dwellings destroyed or damaged are basic input variables for understanding human impacts
from a disaster and also one of the core components of material impacts and direct economic loss
attributed to disasters.
220. Disruptions to basic services is a basic characteristic of a disaster, as defined in UNGA (2015).
Disruptions to educational and health services were emphasized in the Sendai Framework and
basic data on these kinds of disruptions are usually monitored by ministries of education and
health. These data, along with statistics produced collected from populations in affected areas
should be integrated, with disaggregation, as much as possible, according to relevant population
groups, into national databases as important basic descriptions of the impacts of disasters on
people and on the basic functioning of societies, including, as much as possible, with
disaggregation according to the relevant social groups.
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221. Risk information should be compiled for all types of hazards relevant to the country, including
sudden-impact and difficult-to-predict disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis and the slowly-
evolving risks (for example drought or rising sea levels), which eventually may cross a threshold
into an emergency situation and a disaster. The focus for DRSF is on measurement of three core
risk factors: exposure, vulnerability, capacity.
222. The amount of expenditure, especial public expenditure, on disaster risk reduction expenditure
should be a part of the minimum set of information available to policy makers for helping to
determine investment needs for achieving disaster risk reduction targets of the future and for
analysis of how investments prior to a disaster can help make development more sustainable. The
first target of SDG 13 on Climate Action calls for members States to : “strengthen resilience and
adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards in all countries” There is also an international
demand for tracking international assistance for achieving Sustainable Development goals and
targets. The Sendai Framework target (f) is to “substantially enhance international cooperation to
developing countries though adequate and sustainable support to complement their national
accounts for implementation of the Framework by 2030.”
Summary tables of disaster occurrences (A)
223. Identifying a disaster occurrence is an essential first step to any centralized compilation of
disaster-related statistics because of the need to attribute impacts specifically to disasters as the
trigger events.
224. Based on these decisions by disaster management agencies, a simple register of disaster
occurrences, including with unique reference codes and the basic characteristics (e.g. geographic
scope of emergency, timing of emergency) is prepared. From these registers, basic counts of
disaster occurrences can be produced and reported, as shown in Table A1.
225. These counts of disaster occurrences are background statistics, useful for computing indicators
related to disaster impacts (e.g. indicators of relative disaster impact intensity). Counts of
occurrences also are used for tracking the long-term trends in numbers of occurrences of different
scales by regions within countries and internationally (e.g. for tracking potential impacts of
climate change). The latter analysis usually requires an exceptionally long time series.
226. The timing reference included in the basic compilations of disaster occurrences is usually a date,
or at least month and year. This type of time references is sufficient for most purposes. However,
for some types of hazards there may also be interest in measuring and reporting the length of time
for a disaster or an emergency as an additional descriptive characteristic of disasters. There are
several challenges for producing a consistent or generic measurement for length of time for a
disaster. Disaster occurrences are processes, which, from the perspective of recovery, may last a
very long time. Underlying hazards are also processes without a necessarily clear and discrete
time reference. For example, although earthquakes are commonly presented in non-technical
reports as if they were discrete events, in reality relatively strong earth shaking events are
accompanied by aftershocks or other linked hazards that can take place over a long period of
time. In the case of earthquakes of Canterbury, New Zealand, earth shaking initiating in 2010
continued for over 2 years with some of the aftershocks creating far more significant impacts
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than the initial shaking. Therefore, as a simple convention for time referencing of disaster
occurrences across the wide diversity of types of occurrences, the emergency period is
recommended as a main reference (see 2a).
Selected Background Statistics and Exposure to hazards (B tables)
227. Exposure to hazards is generally calculated by disaster management agencies, utilizing statistics
on population, land and infrastructure derived from the existing official sources. Exposure is
measured according to hazard area maps, produced using a variety of physical data inputs (see
Chapter 2).
228. Vulnerability is one of the critical factors of disaster risk. Therefore, measures of vulnerability
are potentially vital background statistics, but difficult to define a priori. To develop an empirical
approach to measuring vulnerability prior to a disaster, there is a need to first develop a basic
minimum selection of categories for disaggregated statistics describing the population and
infrastructure, especially for parts of the countries within hazard areas.
229. A simple basic minimum set of statistics to derive from the population exposure data was
developed for DRSF and included in table B1b: Population Exposure by social groups , as
follows:
Age groups
Sex
Urban vs. rural populations
Persons with disabilities
Economic poor (income below national or international poverty)
230. By agreement in the Sendai Framework, governments report on number of people per 100,000
that are covered by early warning information through local governments or through national
dissemination mechanisms (indicator G3). The underlying statistics on population and early
warning coverage should be a part of the design and regular monitoring of these systems.
Additionally, some institutions have also produced statistics for monitoring on the effectiveness
of early warning systems in real-life situations.
231. Other key variables for describing coping capacity, or resilience, to disasters, for a basic range of
disaster-related statistics could include: household preparedness, environmental resilience, and
relevant summary extracts from the accounting of other disaster risk reduction activities. Statistics
for the Coping Capacity Background Statistics table (table B3) should be compiled and reported
by geographic regions, according to the needs of users, which may be administrative regions of
the country or hazards areas, or both.
Summary tables of human impacts (C Tables)
232. There are many possible ways to organize a list of variables on human impacts from disasters.
The DRSF C table is a template, not necessarily comprehensive for all cases, but i an option from
which the Sendai Framework SDG indicators can be derived. In many countries, statistics for
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further detailed categorizations of variables are available and could be reported in summary
tables, according to the demand.
233. As discussed in detail in Chapter 2, a simple aggregation across impacts creates multiple
possibilities for double-counting of the same individuals. This issue is potentially managed by
estimation of numbers of multiple impacts to the same individuals for an adjustment at the bottom
of each C table.
234. For disaggregation by social groups, references to national definitions should be applied, and
documented clearly in metadata for: urban and rural, poor (i.e. national poverty line), and
disabled persons.
235. Data sources for measurement of human impacts is a combination of the initial observations and
administrative records during disaster response and recovery by disaster management agencies
combined with descriptions of the population in affected areas with specially designed surveys
(where available) and the existing sources of official population and social statistics, such as
censuses and surveys.
Summary tables of direct material impacts (D Tables)
236. Direct material impact (D) tables are for recording direct material impacts in "physical" terms,
such as area (sq. m) of damages or number of buildings, by categories. Recommendations for
physical measurement units are presented later in this Chapter.
237. Direct impacts to cultural heritage and to the environment are identified separately due to special
characteristics regarding measurement units and monetary valuation. Cultural heritage are
unowned (or part of public owned infrastructure) with special values to the population, which are
sometimes irreplaceable.
238. Disruptions of basic services from a Disaster (D2 tables) are an extension of direct material
impacts tables (especially impacts to critical infrastructure), because usually disruptions to
services are a consequence of damaged or destroyed infrastructure. Measurement units for
disruptions of basic services are number of persons and length of time. Statistics on disruptions to
basic services and on material impacts from disasters are observations, usually collected and
compiled by disaster management agencies in the period shortly after an emergency.
Summary tables of direct material impacts in monetary terms (E Tables)
239. The direct material impacts in monetary terms tables mimic the direct material impacts (D
tables). Monetary valuations of material impacts needed for calculating direct economic loss
(SDG 1.5.2 and Sendai Framework Target C indicators) are based on the costs of the physical
damages, in most cases, according to the costs of reconstruction or replacement.
240. This monetary valuation of material impacts normally requires a combination of data sources,
including insurance claims assessments or assessments for cost of reconstruction, the recorded
values of assets prior to a disaster (where available), records of actual transactions for recovery of
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damages, i.e. expenditure on post-disaster reconstruction, and average costs of crops or other
exposed assets for estimating costs of damages based on average per unit values.
Summary Tables of Direct Environmental Impacts (F Tables)
241. The final component of direct impacts statistics are the environmental impacts from disaster (F
tables). Environmental impacts variables are built upon a nationally standardized classification of
land cover types (such as the 14-class example presented in the F tables).
242. Land cover statistics is typically the responsibility of national mapping or national environmental
agencies. Integration of land cover statistics is made with reference to (i) the location of specific
direct impacts and (ii) hazards and exposure (B tables). There are also functional categories of
land cover that could be of special interest for assessing direct impacts, i.e: designated biological
reserves and World Heritage sites.
243. Monitoring impacts to water resources, ideally, should be an extension of data collection and
monitoring programmes of national and regional water authorities.
244. Other data sources for environmental impacts are similar as with other material impacts, i.e. the
observations of disaster management agencies after an emergency, measured in terms of land
area.
245. Emissions of sulphur associated with volcanic eruptions and carbon emissions from wildfires are
typically estimated by institutions responsible for official scientific monitoring of atmospheric
conditions. Some national space agencies or other international scientific organizations are
monitoring these emissions globally.
Disaster Risk Reduction Expenditure and Transfers (DRRE Tables)
246. While disasters, and their impacts, are occurring randomly, disaster risk reduction is a continuous
activity (although certain activities boosted in the recovery period after a major disaster), related
to disaster response and informed by the gradual improvements in knowledge on disaster risks
and how to minimize them.
247. The disaster risk reduction activity accounting tables have been developed in alignment with the
standards and formats of the System of National Accounts (SNA) because the information in
these tables are extractions from the broader aggregated accounting framework for the economy
as a whole. In principle, the statistics could be derived from the same data sources that are used
in national accounts. Disaster risk reduction activity (expenditure and transfers) accounts tables.
248. Statistics on DRR activity serve many purposes, including to track the response of government
and non-government institutions to disaster risk over time, to improve understanding of the types
of effectiveness of different types of programs, and as inputs for estimating economic loss of
disasters.
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249. The DRR Expenditure (DRRE) accounting tables are developed based on a draft proposed
classification of disaster risk reduction characteristic-activities (DRRCA) presented in Chapter 3,
developed utilizing, as much as possible, the existing definitions developed and adopted for the
Sendai Framework.
Data Sources
250. There are many important opportunities within the basic range of disaster-related statistics for
making extensive use of existing sources of official statistics, as briefly introduced above for
each other 5 categories of DRSF basic range of disaster-related statistics tables. This section
prevents a further elaboration on the roles and some other important considerations for each of
the main data sources that are important for compiling these statistics.
251. A crucial first step for implementation of DRSF by national agencies is a detailed mapping of
existing sources of data sources accessible at national level for calculating variables in the basic
range of disaster-related statistics tables.
252. Statistics for relatively large disasters benefit from greater attention from post-disaster
assessments and specially targeted data collections after the occurrences. Smaller and more
frequent disaster occurrences and their impacts rely more on the regular and continuous sources of
official statistics, such as including questions in household surveys or extracting information from
monitoring systems operating in areas of the county exposed to hazards.
Demographic and Social Statistics
253. Population censuses or household surveys have several roles in the basic range of disaster-related
statistics, in particular for measuring risk, especially exposure and vulnerability of the population
to hazards. Population censuses can also be used for producing measures of household
preparedness and for disaster impacts, to the extent that these elements were incorporated into
census questionnaires.
254. In addition, population and housing censuses are used to contribute data for estimation of disaster
impacts through comparisons of results from periods before and after a disaster (for example
changes in housing stock and descriptions of movements in the population).
255. Estimation of exposure of population to hazards requires statistics on population and on land and
infrastructure at the most detailed geographic scale (highest geographic resolution) as available in
order to overlay this information in GIS with the maps of hazard areas to calculate the numbers
for the overlapping areas (see Section 2b). For population, this is the results of the population
census, conducted for most countries on an approximate 10-year cycle. Other potential sources of
population statistics, or sources for intra-census projected updates of the population estimates,
include population or housing registries used for administrative purposes by government, or
household surveys.
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256. At the most detailed level, location of residencies and the population distribution can be gathered
from a cadastre and from point location (i.e. GPS coordinates) of a household. GPS locations for
residencies, business or other respondent are increasingly available due to the emergence of
handheld GPS technologies and the use of tablet to collect census or survey data digitally. The
next level of aggregation upward are the primary sampling units (PSU), which are used by census
organisations for planning their enumerations. PSUs are typically smaller than the smallest
administrative units, but contain many households and may contain areas both within and outside
of hazard areas. Population figures by PSU are usually not made available publically; rather the
statistics are disseminated by administrative region (e.g. administrative level 1, 2, 3). Results of
pilot studies for the DRSF conducted during 2016 and 2017 (see annex) showed that a simple yet
adaptable model, is potentially applicable and sufficient to deliver reliable statistics on population
exposed to hazard based on publically available releases from population and housing censuses.
257. Statistics on household preparedness can be derived from household surveys and population and
housing censuses via inclusion of questions about the basic preparedness fundamentals, such as
storage of water and other provisions for an emergency and knowledge and awareness of
emergency plans (column 7 in table B3). Sample surveys on household preparedness could target
analysis in particular hazard areas or for the national population as a whole.
258. Statistics for categories of vulnerability in relation to population exposure to hazards (table B1b)
are also derived from household surveys, population and housing censuses, and other sources of
social statistics, usually managed by national statistics offices. These statistics may not be
currently accessible according to the current hazard maps, therefore an active collaboration for
producing and sharing of these statistics is needed between national statistics offices and disaster
management agencies in order to derive (and update regularly) the overlaid relationships between
the basic demographic and social descriptions of the population with hazard maps.
Employment statistics and national accounts
259. One of the potentially important sources of vulnerability that could be considered as additional
compilations for assessing vulnerability are summary statistics on structure of employment (e.g.
shares of employment by main categories of activity – agriculture, manufacturing, services),
diversity of the population, metrics for levels of inequality, and so on.
260. Macroeconomic background statistics are relevant for describing potential structural economic
vulnerabilities, derived from national accounts main aggregates and employment statistics. Most
official national sources produce national accounts main aggregates and employment statistics at
national and regional levels. Potential for producing such aggregated economic statistics for an
affected region or hazard area should also be investigated. Specific types of activities of special
importance for assessing risk or assessing impacts , such as tourism or agriculture, need to be
identified in advance as potential extractions of the broader national accounts compilations for
use in risk or post disaster assessments.
261. For the economic valuation of the material impacts to assets from disasters (direct economic
loss), many sources need consideration, especially values for insurance claims, or from other
estimations based on establishment surveys for construction activities. Economic statistics related
to material impacts from disasters are also important for building core assumptions for estimating
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81
indirect economic losses, such as the approximated effects to production and employment, on
aggregate or for specific segments of the economy.
262. Costs of disaster risk reduction activities (DRRE accounts) may be derived from reports of
activities of the relevant institutional units and reports government finance statistics (filtered
according to primary purpose), and other compilations of statistics from administrative sources,
which are commonly used in national accounts, such as tax records.
263. For most countries in Asia and Pacific, Africa and in Europe, producing national accounts is a
responsibility of national statistics offices. However in some countries, including in most of the
countries in Latin American and the Caribbean, national accounts are compiled within Central
Banks. Another common arrangement (e.g. in the United States and in Thailand) is production of
national accounts by a specialized economic advisory council within the government. Regardless
of the institutional arrangements of a particular country, a close exchange of statistics and
metadata between national accounts and the centralized disaster-related statistics database is one
of the crucial interactions for building the basic range of disaster-related statistics.
Data Collection During a Disaster Occurrence
264. Where possible, data collected as part of the emergency response from a disaster can be crucial
for producing statistics on the impacts of a disaster, particularly in terms of providing
disaggregated statistics on the human and economic impacts. These are the initial figures
appearing in reports about disasters, and for which there is always the possibility for amendment,
subsequently, if new information becomes available and by linking with other data sources after
the emergency period.
265. Statistics on material impacts are usually estimated, at least initially, from data collected as part
of the disaster response by disaster management agencies . This data can be reused for
compilations of statistics on material impacts, for dwellings, land, critical infrastructure, and other
buildings or non-financial assets.
266. A part of response to disasters is providing various types of support to households or enterprises,
whether that be support for evacuation or relocation and transfers of other basic needs like food
and other supplies or financial resources to help with recovery. This support is usually
accompanied by a system of registration and/or collection of basic information of the households
or other entities receiving support. These records can be stored as non-public databases, from
which statistics can be derived for describing the population or businesses affected and in need of
support. The records should be designed to collect information important for producing statistics
for disaggregated analysis of the impacts, such as identification of basic characteristic like age,
sex, disability, employment, and income.
267. Since not all people or businesses in an affected area can always be reached by an emergency
response and recovery efforts of a government agency, administrative records from the
emergency response will almost always need to be complemented by identification of other data
sources or methods for estimation of impacts of population not covered, for example displaced
populations who relocated as result of a disaster voluntarily, without government support.
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268. Sometimes a specialized follow-up survey (or amendments to an existing census or survey)
targeting impacted areas, is a good option, building upon data that could be collected as part of
the emergency response.
Population and Health Administrative Data
269. The usual source of official records for deaths and causes of death, where it could be determined,
are civil registration authorities and the Ministry of Health, which is responsible for maintaining
and monitoring health information systems. In the event of a disaster, particularly for large scale
disasters, records for deaths or missing is, in the short-term, more commonly tabulated as part of
the emergency response and broader compilation and initial assessment of human and material
impacts from disasters. These figures are reported by and to the different levels of local and
national government and usually at some stage are shared in official reports to the press and the
general public.
270. Commonly, there is a need to revise original reported counts on deaths (and other human
impacts) following the emergency and after sufficient time to assess the sources of data and
account for all of the cases. The revised figures, which may be different than initial reports to the
public, must be stored in the centralized compilations of disaster impacts statistics and utilized in
the indicators.
271. A key consideration for the broader statistical system is ensuring that the final official counts of
deaths after a disaster are incorporated into the broader official system of administrative statistics
(i.e. the civil registration system), which is also the source used for the long-term and
comprehensive official statistics on mortality and health of the population. These administrative
sources have many important uses for the broader statistical system, including for estimating the
rate of growth of populations and for investigating public health issues, such as trends in mortality
from different types of health challenges. Civil and health administrative records contain
confidential information, but can be utilized to produce broad summary statistics for describing
trends in the population without revealing private information about individuals.
272. In principle, deaths are recorded in civil registers and/or in health information systems according
to a standard classification for causes of death. The current international cause of death
classification, called ICD 10 (2016)18, is managed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
ICD10 does not include specific coding for deaths from a disaster, and therefore civil registration
systems based on ICD10 cannot be used directly as a data source for calculating deaths or missing
from disasters (thus, there is a need to provide users access to summary statistics from the impacts
reports from disaster management agencies). But, ICD10 includes a general category for
“External Causes for Morbidity and Mortality” (code XX).
273. Medical professionals responsible for cause of death registrations might not be trained (or
authorized) to attribute cause of death to a specific external event, like a disaster. On the other
hand, there is a lot of experience with international reporting on deaths associated with other types
18 http://apps.who.int/classifications/icd10/browse/2016/en
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of external causes of deaths. An example is the international compilation of statistics on traffic
accident mortality compilation by the World Health Organisation from official national sources.19
274. Protection of confidentiality is an important point for emphasis in the use of the administrative
records, because these records need to be protected against use for identifying individuals.
Linking records of individuals with data collected on disaster impacts is a potential method for
describing the population affected in terms of relevant disaggregation categories – e.g. by gender,
age, disability, etc. These are estimated calculations for each category, based on linking records
between microdata on human impacts with administrative sources.
Mapping and Environmental Monitoring
275. Hazard maps are developed utilizing specialized expertise on hazards, e.g. earthquakes, extreme
meteorological events, floods, tsunami, etc. Hazard data typically are produced as official
products by national meteorological, geological, hydrological, disaster management, or other
scientific organizations working within or in collaboration with governments. Most of the data
inputs used for producing hazard maps are outputs from geographic and environmental
monitoring systems related to the types of hazards (water balances, meteorological data) or other
basic underlying environmental characteristics, such elevation models, soil characteristics, land
cover and so on.
276. Estimating the geographic area of hazards is based on probabilistic modelling, utilizing the
available data and in relation to the length of the relative time period (extreme events are more
probable the longer the timespan under study) and a confidence interval chosen by the experts
producing the maps. Different degrees of exposure or probabilities of a hazard are used to produce
multiple mapped layers according to different expected degrees of risk (high, medium and low
exposure). Internationally, sources of hazard maps available for public use include UNEP-GRID
and the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative (PCRAFI).
277. The prediction of probabilities of future events can be improved by information from historical
disasters, but probability of hazards is dynamic (for example due to climate change). Therefore
the probabilistic models need to be updated at regular intervals, integrating new information as it
becomes available.
278. In addition to hazard maps produced by experts for measuring risk prior to a disaster, sometimes
maps of impacts of disasters (‘disaster footprints’) are produced as GIS vector or raster files,
which can be useful for making improvements to hazard mapping and for analysis of impacts or
producing statistics on affected areas, (e.g. baseline population in an affected area).
279. Land cover and land use maps, as well as other sources of related information, such as cadastres,
maps of critical ecosystems or hotspots, maps of critical infrastructure, and a broad range of other
geographic information can be important inputs for analyses of exposure to hazards. In addition,
statistics describing environmental condition , for example related to the quality of water bodies
or characteristics of forests, are also important inputs for use in measurement of factors of
vulnerabilities to disasters. GIS can be used for integration of a comprehensive repository of
19 http://www.who.int/gho/road_safety/mortality/en/
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relevant geographic information, as layers that be integrated to produce statistics relatively simply
as long as official maps can be gathered in consolidated into a centralized database for disaster
risk reduction purposes.
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Timing of
Data Collection
ExposureV
ulnerability H
uman Im
pactD
wellings
Population Density
Age structure
Death/M
issingBuldings and strutres
Land cover/usePoverty
Injured/IllM
achinary
GD
P per capitaD
isabled Evaculated/Relocted
Valuables
Household Incom
eG
enderN
atural Resources
Hazard
Slums
Critical goods and services
Elevation map
Median Incom
e Loss of Jobs
critical infrastructure
Meteorological data
Coping Capacity People received aid
Cultural heritage
Data from
past hazardsPreparedness (household level)
Otherw
ise affectedEconom
ic Impacts
Distribution of soil type
Early warning system
s
value for surface roughnessInvestm
esnt in DRR
slope and river flow variables
(flood)Transfers fom
Central to local government
EvacuatuationsReconsruction and recovery
annual precipitation index
(drought)Interantional Transfers (O
DA
) into countryRelocations
annual precipitation and
geological data (landslide)International Transfers (O
DA
) outflows
People receiving aid
Total Expenditure by DRRCA
category
Total Expeedniture on DRRCA
by government
Total Expeedniture on DRRCA
by non-government
Beneficiaries of Total Expenditure
Beneficiaris of Total Transfers Received
Risk Assessm
ent
DRR A
ctivity
People affected by dwellings
demaged/destoried D
isaster Impact
BEFORE
DU
RING
AN
D A
FTER
Data sources
Geophysical/M
eteorological organisations
Ministry of Environm
ent/ Mapping A
gency
Population Census/Household surveys
Household Survey
National A
ccounts
Disaster M
anagement A
gency Assesm
ent
Fig
ure 1
2 : D
RS
F B
asic R
an
ge V
aria
bles &
Data
So
urces
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Measurement Units
280. Figure 12 (previous page) is a visual overview of the basic range of disaster related statistics with
a generic referencing to the main expected sources (see key in left hand corner). The remainder
of this chapter specifies recommendations for measurement units for each of the core objects of
measurement for consideration by the data sources prior to nationally centralized compilations of
disaster-related statistics.
Dwellings
281. Dwellings are a special case where the number of units typically is aligned with number of
households impacted. Individual buildings may have multiple units (e.g. apartment buildings)
affected by a disaster and the number of units is a good approximation for the number of
households affected by damaged or destroyed dwellings. Some material impacts variables are
reported as number of buildings, but for dwellings it’s important to also specify number of units
(i.e. approximate number of households affected).
282. There is also an interest in number of individual people affected (e.g. for calculating an
aggregated affected population indicator). If basic data on number of individuals residing within
each affected dwelling are not available from the impacts assessment, this can be estimated based
on statistics on average household size within the affected area.
283. For economic loss valuation, sometimes direct observations of costs are unavailable and thus
there may be a need to also collect data on estimated size or area of damages (i.e. in terms of
square meters of damage) as an input for estimated expected costs of the damages.
284. Therefore, for the case of dwellings we have the non-exclusive options shown below. If planned
in advance of data collection, than, theoretically, all of these measurements could be derived for
dwellings from the same primary data source.
Dwellings Measurement Unit Menu
Dwellings No. of units (households)
No. of people
Area in sq. m
Cost of impacts in local currency
Damaged
Destroyed
Critical Infrastructure
285. Critical infrastructure is heterogeneous by nature. They are assets of varied forms, including
buildings, equipment, land, and inventories. There is no possibility to produce an aggregated
count of total damages to critical infrastructure without a common unit of measurement across all
the relevant types of assets, i.e. monetary valuation of impacts to assets.
286. Initially, impacts to critical infrastructure must be observed according to the categories, with
specialized units of measurement, in physical terms. For each category of infrastructure, there are
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multiple options for measurement units in physical terms. The below table offers options for
prioritization, noting that multiple measures is always a possibility.
Critical Infrastructure Physical Measurement Units Menu
Measurement unit
Critical infrastructures
Hospitals, health facilities
no. of buildings by official category (tier
1, tier 2,..) capacity (no. of beds) sq m.
Education facilities no. of buildings by official category (tier
1, tier 2,..) capacity (no. of students) sq m.
Other critical public administration buildings
no. of units Public monuments
no. of units Religious buildings
no. of buildings by official category
Roads
km
capacity (avg. daily traffic affected)
no. of roads by official category
Bridges
km
capacity (avg. daily traffic affected)
no. of bridges by official category
Railway
no. of units
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Airports
no. of buildings by official category
capacity (avg. daily traffic affected)
Ports
no. of units by official category
capacity (avg. daily traffic affected)
Transport equipment
no. of units Electricity generation facilities
no. of units
capacity (no. of people affected)
Electricity grids
no. of units
capacity (no. of people affected)
ICT Equipment capacity (no. of
people affected) no. of units Dams no. of units by official
category
no. of units
capacity (no. of people affected)
Water supply infrastructure
no. of units
capacity (no. of people affected)
Water sewage & treatment systems
no. of units
capacity (no. of people affected)
Agriculture land, livestock, fish stocks, and managed forests sq. km
capacity (food production affected)
Disruptions to Basic services from a Disaster
287. Often material impacts, particularly damages to critical infrastructure, result in disruptions to
basic services after a disaster.
288. Statistics on disruptions to basic series are measured in terms of number of people and length
time. Material impacts from a hazard are the triggers that usually directly cause disruptions to
services. However, from a measurement perspective, these disruptions are understood as impacts
to the population and should be measured in terms of number of people affected
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289. Additionally, the time element of the disruptions is critical for understanding the nature and
magnitude of these impacts, the underlying risks for the affected area and the challenges for
recovery. Thus, all disruptions to basic services are recorded with 2 dimensions: no. of people
affected and length of time (See DRSF D2 tables).
Impacts to Livelihood
290. Measurement units for impacts to from disasters should follow the example of disruptions to
basic services, i.e. the length of time (e.g number of days of lost) alongside with the number of
people affected. Numbers of jobs by sector could also be of importance, especially for economies
with a high dependence on specific critical sectors, such as agriculture.
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