Population and Housing Census in Light of
Disaster Management
Workshop on Census Cartography and Management, Bangkok, Thailand, 15-19 October 2007
Definitions
 Definition of Disaster
A singular, large, non-routine event that
overwhelms local capacity to respond
adequately
- natural disasters: generally short-lived
events but long-term consequences
- man made disasters: long-term events
and long-term intervention
Workshop on Census Cartography and Management, Bangkok, Thailand, 15-19 October 2007
Population at risk
 Assessing population at risk requires
linkage between
 Population data by location
 Frequency and severity of a specific kind of
hazard
 Coping capacity (resilience) of subsystems in
that location
Workshop on Census Cartography and Management, Bangkok, Thailand, 15-19 October 2007
Data needs
Data needs in responding to population crisis
- Where is the event occuring
- How many people are affected
Workshop on Census Cartography and Management, Bangkok, Thailand, 15-19 October 2007
Census as source of data
Requirements
 Regular censuses
 Small area statistics
 Current and accurate digital boundary maps
 Geo-referenced data
 Core topics
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
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Age
Gender
Economic attributes
Workshop on Census Cartography and Management, Bangkok, Thailand, 15-19 October 2007
Census as source of data
Requirements (continued)
 Core topics (continued)



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Education
Ethno-cultural characteristics (religion, ethnicity…)
Household structure (families)
Housing characteristics
 Census micro-data for special analysis
Workshop on Census Cartography and Management, Bangkok, Thailand, 15-19 October 2007