Chapter 2: EXPOSURE AND VULNERABILITY Flashcards
refers to the situation of people, infrastructure, housing, production capacities and other tangible human assets located in hazard-prone areas. It is viewed as the total value of elements at risk.
Exposure
What drives exposure?
People and economic assets become concentrated in areas exposed to hazards through processes such as population growth, migration, urbanization and economic development. Previous disasters can drive exposure by forcing people from their lands and to increasingly unsafe areas.
How to measure exposure?
Measures of exposure can include the number of people or types of assets in an area. These can be combined with the specific vulnerability and capacity of the exposed elements to any particular hazard to estimate the quantitative risks associated with that hazard in the area of interest.
How can we minimize exposure?
One method of reducing exposure is to map out the hazards that a community is exposed to.
refers to the characteristics determined by physical, social, economic and environmental factors or processes which increase the susceptibility of an individual, a community, assets or systems to the impacts of hazards.
Vulnerability
The factors that affect vulnerability
Physical, Social, Economic, Environmental
e.g. poor design and construction of buildings, unregulated land use planning, etc.
Physical Factors
e.g. poverty and inequality, marginalization, social exclusion and discrimination by gender, social status, disability and age (amongst other factors) psychological factors, etc.
Social Factors
e.g. the uninsured informal sector, vulnerable rural livelihoods, dependence on single industries, globalization of business and supply chains, etc.
Economic factors
e.g. poor environmental management, over consumption of natural resources, decline of risk regulating ecosystem services, climate change, etc.
Environmental factors
Why does vulnerability matter?
By including vulnerability in our understanding of disaster risk, we acknowledge the fact that disaster risk not only depends on the severity of hazard or the number of people or assets exposed, but that it is also a reflection of the susceptibility of people and economic assets to suffer loss and damage.
How do we reduce vulnerability?
Implementing building codes
Insurance and social protection (risk )
Emphasizing economic diversity and resilient livelihoods
Knowledge and awareness raising
Preparedness measures
is the ability of a community or its constituent parts to bounce back from the harmful impacts of disasters.
Community Resilience
