Global standards for disaster statistics planned by 2016
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Senior experts from governments, academia and international organisations plan to urgently develop statistical standards for better disaster-risk management in Asia and the Pacific by 2016.
The first meeting of the Expert Group on Disaster-Related Statistics in Asia-Pacific was held in Japan from October 27-29, by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and allies in collaboration with the Japanese government and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.
The group, which was established earlier this year, agreed on the core principles for establishing a common range of disaster-related statistics, as efforts to manage disasters in Asia-Pacific region have been hampered by the lack of timely, reliable, and comparable statistics due to the absence of common standards.
In his opening remarks, Kilaparti Ramakrishna, director of ESCAP’s east and northeast Asia office, said: “With climate change, the frequency and severity of extreme weather events are expected to rise. This means, there is a tremendous need for better disaster-risk management for society and the environment.”
Tohoku University president Professor Susumu Satomi noted: “Without statistical standards, governments can only infer but have no way to determine with certainty the extent to which disaster events inflict damage and losses to the hard-earned fruit of development in their countries.”
