Regional Workshop on Measuring Disaster Risks and Impacts

Disasters continue to have an ever-increasing impact on life, well-being and sustainable development. Given these impacts, there is high demand at the local, national and international levels for quality, integrated statistics to inform all phases of the disaster risk management cycle. Disaster related statistics are not only relevant to those working to prepare and respond to disasters but also to the public at large, research institutions and policy analysts at the local and national levels. For instance, national disaster management agencies need disaggregated and georeferenced information on population, including vulnerable groups, as well as critical infrastructure. Similarly, ministries of finance need information on climate related risks to better prepare for potential shocks to the economy.
At the global level, in 2015 countries agreed to the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction aimed at substantially reducing disaster risk and losses. Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals also contain several goals and targets aimed at disaster risk reduction and minimizing losses. Both frameworks have indictor frameworks to measure progress towards achieving their respective targets which in turn require the compilation of disaster related indicators based on sound statistical methodology. Given the increased data demands at the local, national and global level, there is a need to strengthen the capacities of national statistical systems to produce and disseminate disaster related information to better meet the needs of users for high quality integrated data on risks and impacts.
The workshop, organized by the United Nations Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP) and the Statistics Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in collaboration with Statistics Korea (KOSTAT) aims to further build capacities in the Asia and the Pacific for the compilation of disaster related information in support of national priorities as well as SDG and Sendai Framework reporting.