Lecture 3: Risk, Vulnerability, Sustainability Flashcards
Events
are weather phenomena, they become hazards once they threaten to affect society and/or the environment adversely.
Hazards
a physical event that is a potential threat to people and the things they value
Disaster
is a natural or man-made event that negatively affects life, property, livelihood or industry onen resulting in permanent changes to human societies, ecosystems and environment.
Criteria for a disaster
For a disaster to be entered into ‘Em-Dat’
(Emergency Events Database), at least one of the following criteria must be fulfilled:
10 or more people reported killed
100 or more people reported affected
declaration of a state of emergency
call for international assistance
EM-DAT
Global database of natural and technological disasters from 1900 onwards.
22,440 disasters to date
EM-DAT maintained by WHO Collaborating Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) since 1988
People and choice
If people are in the path of an environmental event – a hazard is created
If people do not prepare / cannot prepare for a hazard – a disaster is potentially created
People’s choices play a significant role in disaster occurrence
Hazard and social characteristics
Hazard characteristics- components of risk (e.g. magnitude / frequency)
Social characteristics e.g. attitudes to hazards can amplify or attenuate the risk et al.)
Risk
Describes the likelihood of us being affected by a hazard and the potential damage that might occur
How we perceive a hazard affects how we behave and this affects how ‘at risk’ we are
Example of progression of vulnerability
New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, 2005
Large poor community not engaged in wider social preparedness for hazards
Poor groups in marginal housing in highly exposed areas
Marginal groups excluded from institutions that deliver early warnings (e.g. NHC)
Marginal groups lack resources to evacuate
