Data needs for the study

11 3 Methodology

3.1 Data needs for the study

Thailand country project phase I of ACCCRN program, considered five cities, and main objective was the selection of two cities for the study under next phase. In order to meet study objectives, ensuring the availability of data under each study component was a crucial factor. Outcome of phase I study expected to help evaluation of the potential and the feasibility of further analysis under phase 2 for the two cities selected as the core beneficiaries of ACCCRN program. To proceed towards in-depth studies, it was felt that a certain amount of base data is required covering a considerable period. The consistency in terms of data coverage for all cities and short time period available for the study were seen as challenges. Furthermore, even if data is available, reliability of data also needs to be evaluated. ACCCRN initiative focuses on urban areas; thereby district as well as city level information are needed to conduct a sector based urban climate change vulnerability assessment. The resolution of data for instance is of high importance for study on spatial distribution of relevant sectors at risk from climate hazards. With regards to climate parameters, the time period covered by the data set is important as it primarily will be used for trend analysis and also to draw some projections. Higher the coverage the team felt it will help to produce better future projections and also to come up with a better scenario assessment. Therefore, the team has developed initial plans to collect data concerning three categories; firstly infrastructure data including roads, buildings, drainage and sewerage network, power and communication; then meteorological data such as temperature data, precipitation data, wind data and air and water quality data and finally disaster related past data in terms of number of events, damages, and loss per disaster type etc. Each data category has been assessed and rated according to two other criteria also: namely data availability and data reliability. Rating has been assigned in a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 as the lowest and 5 as the highest. Zero 0 implies that no data exists.

3.2 Data collection