Tools and Methods for Estimating Populations at Risk from Natural Disasters and Complex Humanitarian Crises (2007) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 1-10
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Although specific data needs vary according to the type of disaster and regional issues, some basic necessities in responding to these events are population data and the ability of responders to use the data to deliver effective humanitarian aid. Population data allow determination of how much and what types of aid are needed and where the aid should be directed.
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. This committee report responds to that charge and provides the specific framework for understanding populations at risk of disasters and the need for good population data, including demographic features; it also describes how demographic data are used before, during, and after a crisis, as well as some of the more important reasons these data are underutilized.
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government sponsors of the study, the main recommendations identify dedicated actions with respect to population data that might improve the ability of federal agencies and international organizations, national governments, institutes, and private entities to conduct timely, effective disaster response and development work. ACCURATE, ACCESSIbLE, AND gEOSPATIALLy RESOLvED SUbNATIONAL POPULATION DATA National census data serve as the foundation for measuring likely populations at risk from the impacts of natural or human-induced disasters.
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Further, governments, emergency response organizations, and other types of responders need to be educated and trained in the importance, need, use, and contributions of such data and to be proactive in seeking and utilizing this information to enhance the distribution of disaster relief aid. The committee's recommendations to agencies and organizations working in relief and development capacities support this conclusion and specifically address improvement of the institutional capacity for a baseline census; improvements in the base census and the release, availability, and archiving of data; institutional and decision-making needs; research needs; and the interorganizational structure of U.S.
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3. National and international disaster response and humanitarian agencies and organizations should elevate the importance of demographic and specifically spatial demographic training for staff members.
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At the time of the October 2005 Pakistan earthquake, the census data in Pakistan were seven years old and not fully representative of the characteristics of the subnational populations affected by the event. The experience of the humanitarian aid response to the earthquake exemplified that census data, supplemented by more recent population survey updates provided in real time to responders, would have
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Population attribute data such as race or ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and education are also important and serve to improve the effectiveness of the response. Examination of existing data and methods for estimating subnational populations led the committee to understand that the methods themselves are likely less problematic than the data to which estimation techniques are applied, especially in those countries that are data poor.
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Some national examples of open-access census data and sharing should serve as models to make census and administrative boundary data freely accessible; the response community may also consider negotiating appropriate reimbursement costs to the government agencies that collected the data. Decision-making communities would benefit not only from access to the required data but from maintenance of appropriate safeguards regarding data confidentiality.
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Other international organizations, agencies, and governmental and nongovernmental groups involved in disaster response and development aid may also find implementation of some of these recommendations useful. These recommendations can help improve decision making on disaster relief and humanitarian intervention during a given crisis event and, importantly, recovery and development assistance efforts outside the crisis period.
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10 toolS aND MethoDS foR eStIMatING populatIoNS at RISk subnational levels. Governments and donors must determine themselves if and to what degree additional investment in these efforts is justified in the context of national spending priorities.
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