Topic 2 - Vulnerability & Resilience

Question 1

Number of Natural Diasters – All Continents 1900 – 2016

Answer 1

• Generally: Increasing trend in natural disasters

Question 2

Deaths Caused by Reported Natural Disasters 1900-2016

Answer 2

• Generally: Decline in amount of deaths from natural disasters

Question 3

Vulnerability

Answer 3

• Characteristics of an individual, family, system (infrastructure), place, that make it susceptible to the damaging effects of a hazard

Question 4

• What contributed to vulnerability of people living in New Orleans?

Answer 4

o Below Sea level elevation
o Inadequate levies
o Infrastructure wasn’t built to evacuate the entire city
 Traffic issues
o Lack of preparedness
o Poverty – some people didn’t have vehicles

Question 5

What is Risk?

Answer 5

Probability of negative consequences.

Ex.) New Orleans - has a history of potential risk of huricanes

Question 6

What is a Mitigation?

Answer 6

• Risks can be reduced with good mitigation, or amplified with poor or non-existent mitigation

• Goal is to reduce the impacts of a potential hazard
• Good - land use planning, structural building, hazard warning systems
• Poor - levies that are too poor

Question 7

Geographic Context Affects Biophysical Vulnerability (3)

Answer 7

1. Where a place is located
2. Characteristics of that place
3. Proximity to hazard sources/events

Question 8

How does Location & Characteristics of Place affect New Orleans Vulnerability?

Answer 8

o Sinking ground
o Silk, Sand and Clay
o Surrounding wetlands are sinking as well
 Reasons are man-made
• Canals
 Ironically, the wetlands actually protect the city, and not the levies

Question 9

Social Fabric Affects Social Vulnerability

Answer 9

1. Perception of risk (awareness)
2. Individual/societal ability to respond
   o Are their ways for people to evacuate an area?

Question 10

Socio-Economic Characteristics (7)

Answer 10

1. ) Poverty
2. ) Housing
3. ) Age
4. ) Gender
5. ) Family Structure
6. ) Socially Dependent
7. ) Special Needs

Question 11

Socio-Economic Characteristics: Poverty

Answer 11

o More exposed to harm (forced to live in hazardous locations, inadequate housing, no source of transportation)
o Fewer recovery resources
o Low education levels

Question 12

Socio-Economic Characteristics: Housing

Answer 12

• Homeless: difficult to warn the homeless about a hazardous event
• Housing Quality: mobile homes provide very little protection in the event of a tornado
• Renters are more vulnerable

Question 13

Socio-Economic Characteristics: Age

Answer 13

• Elderly and Children are more vulnerable

vision difficulties, social isolation, reduced hearing, dependent on others, or medications

Question 14

Socio-Economic Characteristics: Gender

Answer 14

• Wage differences
• Women may have a harder time during recovery with family obligations
• Emotional and physical abuse amount increase after disaster

Question 15

What makes women in the frontline of Bangledesh more vulnerable?

Answer 15

• children to take care of
• no place to cook, store food in cyclones
• warnings put up too late
• number of shelters are too few
• men can’t fish after floods
  (90% of people who died in Bangledesh were women)

Question 16

Socio-Economic Characteristics: Family Structure

Answer 16

• Large families
• Single parent households
• Socially isolated

Question 17

Socio-Economic Characteristics: Socially Dependent

Answer 17

• Additional support post-disaster (meals on wheels)

Question 18

Socio-Economic Characteristics: Special Needs

Answer 18

• Support to meet daily needs
• Technology based life support systems
• Physical disabilities

Question 19

Haiti Earthquake (history and magnitude)

Answer 19

• Very vulnerable in terms of the history of hazards
• Very vulnerable in terms of biophysical vulnerability
• Magnitude of 7.0

Question 20

Disaster Pressure and Release Model: The Progression of Vulnerability

Answer 20

1. ) Root Causes
2. ) Dynamic Pressures
3. ) Unsafe Conditions

Question 21

Disaster Pressure and Release Model: RISK

Answer 21

RISK = Hazard + Vulnerability

R = H + V

Question 22

ROOT CAUSES (2)

Answer 22

1. ) Limited Access to: power, structures, resources

2. ) Ideologies: political systems, economic systems

Question 23

DYNAMIC PRESSURES (2)

Answer 23

1. ) Lack of: local institutions, training (low literacy, low skilled workers), appropriate skills, local investments, local markets, press freedom, ethical standards in public life
2. ) Macro-Forces: rapid population growth (very young in age), rapid urbanization (more people in dense areas), arms expenditure, debt repayment schedules, deforestation, decline in soil productivity

Question 24

UNSAFE CONDITIONS (4)

Answer 24

1. ) Fragile physical environment - dangerous locations, unprotected buildings & infrastructure
2. ) Fragile Local Economy - livelihood at risk, low income levels, suffers from rapid inflation, and high unemployment rates
3. ) Vulnerable Society - special groups at risk, lack of local institutions (healthcare services)
4. ) Publications - lack of disaster preparedness, prevalence of epidemic disease

Question 25

Cutter Et Al 2003 Social Vulnerability Index (11)

Answer 25

1. ) Wealth 2. ) Age 3. ) Density 4. ) Single-Sector 5. ) Housing 6. ) Ethnicity/Race - African American 7. ) Ethnicity/Race - African American Female Headed Households 8. ) Ethnicity/Race - Asian 9. ) Ethnicity/Race - Hispanic and Native American 10. ) Occupation 11. ) Infrastructure Dependence

Question 26

What makes Mega Cities more Vulnerable?

Answer 26

```  High density  Large population  Dependency on public transportation  Racial/ethnic diversity  Sense of community  Income Polarization  Homeless population  Challenges in emergency information  Rental units  Higher infrastructural cost in terms of recovery ```

Question 27

What makes Mega Cities less Vulnerable?

Answer 27

```  Strong economy  Larger emergency response team  Higher education – skilled people  Better emergency response plans  Communication is easier  Better buildings ```

Question 28

What makes Small Towns More Vulnerable?

Answer 28

 Lower density  Less diverse economy  Small population, high risk  Dependency on single sector (agricultural)  Evacuation more challenging (people who would want to stay behind)  Lack of local institutions  Geographical isolation from larger cities that can help  Lack of education  Proximity to industries /facilities - dumb one!!!!  One road access

Question 29

What makes Small Towns Less Vulnerable?

Answer 29

 Less infrastructure, limited rebuilding  Natural barriers  Access to vehicles – opposed to public transit  Limited awareness on emergency response  High level of self reliance  More resilient people  Close knit community

Question 30

Holling's Resillience Definition

Answer 30

“Measure the persistence of (ecological) systems and their ability to absorb change and disturbance and still maintain the same relationships between populations or state variables”

Question 31

RESILIENCE AS DEFINED IN THE HAZARDS FIELD (UNISDR, 2009)

Answer 31

• The ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions.

Question 32

Characteristics of a Resilient Person & Community: Resources

Answer 32

1. ) Individual - financial resources for mitigation, preparedness & recovery, other resources (essential household items, transport, tools) 2. ) Community - economy, population (stable or growing, but not too fast), other resources (accessible housing, health services, schools)

Question 33

Characteristics of a Resilient Person & Community: Social Support & Community Bonds

Answer 33

1. ) Individual - social support (family, friends, agencies to rely on), community bonds 2. ) Community - social infrastructure (radio stations, social networks, community organizations), Inter-organizational networks (links between different agencies that share information/resources), partnerships

Question 34

Characteristics of a Resilient Person & Community: Management Capacity

Answer 34

1. ) Individual - time and opportunity to obtain information, resources & services 2. ) Community - shared community values, make decisions & act collectively

Question 35

Characteristics of a Resilient Person & Community: Information

Answer 35

1. ) Individual - before, during, and after a hazard event | 2. ) Community - local hazards & the community (who are the vulnerable people in a community), warning systems

Question 36

Indigenous Knowledge Vulnerabilities (5)

Answer 36

1. ) Poverty 2. ) Low housing quality 3. ) High population growth (more young people) 4. ) Health issues 5. ) Lack of local institutions & emergency preparedness

Question 37

Indigenous Knowledge - Place Names

Answer 37

- Giving names to locations that describe their hazard vulnerability o Mangakino – dangerous stream o Ongarue – place of shaking o Turtle Mountain – the mountain that moves

Question 38

Indigenous Knowledge - Legend and Ceremonies

Answer 38

- Chant on the presence of earthquakes  Earthquakes – west coast o Nuu-chah-nulth

Question 39

Indigenous Knowledge - Oral Histories

Answer 39

1. ) Pachena Bay Oral History - earthquake and tsunami 2. ) Washington State - thunderbird and the whale (storm travels with the bird and harder comes down, the bigger the wave and tsunami)

Question 40

Run to High Ground Video

Answer 40

Indigenous video that used oral traditions and educated people about the potential hazards on the West Coast. - Was part of the education curriculum

Question 41

DROP model

Answer 41

Disaster Resilience of Place Model

Question 42

DROP: Antecedent Conditions

Answer 42

1. ) Inherent vulnerability 2. ) Inherent resilience - some factors affect both, but some affect only one or the other

Question 43

DROP: Event and Coping Responses

Answer 43

1. ) Event characteristics | 2. ) Coping actions - undertaken in advance to facilitate and effective response

Question 44

DROP: Absorptive Capacity

Answer 44

- The ability of the community to absorb event impacts by using predetermined coping responses after an event occurs - Exceeded in 2 ways: event is too large, or improper planning and coping

Question 45

DROP : Adaptive Resilience

Answer 45

- Actions to help the community to recover and better handle future events Ex.) Edmonton warning system after the tornado, rebuilding with safer materials