Vulnerability

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.

UNISDR Terminology (2017)

© Photo by Oxfam East Africa CC BY 2.0

Vulnerability is one of the defining components of disaster risk.

RISK=HAZARDXEXPOSUREXVULNERABILITY

What makes people vulnerable?

Vulnerability is the human dimension of disasters and is the result of the range of economic, social,
cultural, institutional, political and psychological factors that shape people’s lives and the environment
that they live in (Twigg, 2004).

Vulnerability can be a challenging concept to understand because it tends to mean different things to
different people and because it is often described using a variety of terms including ‘predisposition’,
‘fragility’, ‘weakness’, ‘deficiency’ or ‘lack of capacity’.

Some definitions of vulnerability have included exposure in addition to susceptibility to harm. However,
it is now understood that exposure is separate to the ‘susceptibility’ element of vulnerability since it is
possible to be exposed, whilst at the same time not susceptible to natural hazards.

Despite some divergence over the meaning of vulnerability, most experts agree that understanding
vulnerability requires more than analysing the direct impacts of a hazard. Vulnerability also concerns the
wider environmental and social conditions that limit people and communities to cope with the impact of
hazard (Birkmann, 2006).

Vulnerability is complex.
Vulnerability is not simply about poverty, but extensive research over the past 30 years has revealed
that it is generally the poor who tend to suffer worst from disasters (Twigg, 2004; Wisner et al., 2004;
UNISDR, 2009b). Poverty is both a driver and consequence of disaster risk (particularly in countries with
weak risk governance) because economic pressures force people to live in unsafe locations (see
exposure) and conditions (Wisner et al., 2004). Poverty and the other multi-dimensional factors and
drivers that create vulnerability mean that susceptibility to the impacts of hazards is often, but not
always, associated with certain groups, including women, children, the elderly, the disabled, migrants
and displaced populations, amongst others.

Vulnerability relates to a number of factors, including:

Physical factors

e.g. poor design and construction of buildings, unregulated land use planning, etc.

Social factors

e.g. poverty and inequality, marginalisation, social exclusion and discrimination by gender, social status,
disability and age (amongst other factors) psychological factors, etc.

Economic factors

e.g. the uninsured informal sector, vulnerable rural livelihoods, dependence on single industries,
globalisation of business and supply chains, etc.

Environmental factors

e.g. poor environmental management, overconsumption of natural resources, decline of risk regulating
ecosystem services, climate change, etc.

In addition, vulnerability is determined by historical, political, cultural and institutional and natural
resource processes that shape the social and environmental conditions people find themselves existing
within (IPCC, 2012). These processes produce a range of immediate unsafe conditions such as living in
dangerous locations or in poor housing, ill-health, political tensions or a lack of local institutions or
preparedness measures (DFID, 2004).

Many of the underlying drivers of vulnerability, including poorly managed urban development, are
increasing, resulting in vulnerability increasing in many countries and regions of the world. While
evidence suggests that wealthier, well governed countries are able to reduce disaster risks (UNISDR,
2009b, 2011, 2013), some countries have exhibited rapid economic growth in the last few decades
without a commensurable rate of vulnerability reduction (UNISDR, 2015a).

THE SYLLABUS SAYS

Explain why people live in vulnerable areas.

Discuss vulnerability as a function of demographic and socio-economic factors, and of a community’s

preparedness and ability to deal with a hazard event when it occurs.

Explain the reasons for some sectors of a population being more vulnerable than others.

WHAT IS VULNERABILITY?

Vulnerability, in a geography context, refers to the potential harm that people and property might
receive due to a hazard event. The IBDP Geography Subject Guide defines vulnerability as: "The
susceptibility of a community to a hazard or to the impacts of a hazard event".

Therefore, the vulnerability of people depends on both the hazard event itself and the features of the
local population. For example, an older population is more vulnerable than a youthful population; a very
young (child) population is more vulnerable than an adult population.

This is different to 'risk' which is: "the probability of a hazard event event causing harmful consequences
(death, injury, loss of property, damage to environment, etc.)".

The ability of a population to cope with a disaster is called its capability or its capacity. The coping
capacity is the 'means why which people use the available resources and their abilities to face hazardous
events'. Therefore, disasters occur when the full use of available resources still does not meet the needs
of the people to face the disaster without outside help.

The map below shows seismic activity. However, it's obvious that some parts of the world are likely to
be worse affected than others. This is due to their vulnerability. This page explains in general terms why
vulnerability varies.

Picture

Source: http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/files/images/IRIS%20Seismic%20Monitor14x.jpg

EXPLAIN WHY PEOPLE LIVE IN HAZARDOUS AREAS

There are several established reasons why people live in vulnerable areas.

Lack of alternatives - people in poverty may not move, or the entire country may experience the hazard
e.g. Japan
Risk changes over time - a coastal settlement may previously have been 'safe' but due to sea level
changes, it now finds itself vulnerable to coastal erosion

Unpredictability - most hazards are hard to predict and often only affect a limited geographical area, so
people choose to take the risk

Cost-benefit analysis - hazardous areas often have highly beneficial features (e.g. good soil, access to
coastlines) which outweigh the potential disadvantages

Perception of risk - people accept that hazard events occur and choose to view it is a fact of life

More about perception of risk

Perception of risk can be seen in three different ways:

Acceptance: people accept that the hazard event occurs, and view it as an act of god or a random event.
The potential losses are simply accepted asa feature of life. Therefore, we continue to live in these
areas because we can't do anything about it

Domination: people aim to change the hazard through understanding the hazard and the event in a
scientific way. Therefore, we continue to live in these areas because we believe we can control the
hazard event

Adaptation: the 'middle way'. People aim to study the hazard but accept that human responses must
also be addressed. Therefore, we continue to live in these areas because we believe that we can
minimise the impacts of a hazard event

These are the outcomes of a decision making process which depends on both the hazard event itself,
and the human reaction to these hazards. Kates (1992) model summarises these, below:

Picture

Source: http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/staff/gyaccp/hazards/chap4.htm

VULNERABILITY: DEMOGRAPHIC, SOCIO-ECONOMIC, COMMUNITY PREPAREDNESS AND ABILITY TO

DEAL WITH A HAZARD EVENT WHEN IT OCCURS.

Vulnerability can be seen as the result of a process in which various different things cause a population
to be more vulnerable. These can be split into demographic and socio-economic. They can also be
discussed through the level of community preparedness and the ability of a community to manage the
after effects of a hazard event.

Demographic factors

Population density - the more dense the population the more efficient a response can be.

Age of population - very old and very young populations are less mobile and able to respond to hazard
events well.
Distribution of population - Regardless of density, populations may be distributed differently within the
hazard area e.g. elderly people on lower floors of apartment buildings, or concentrations of highly
vulnerable people in poorer areas of a city.

Socio-economic factors

Wealth - low income populations are less likely to be well prepared.

Education - education programmes such as California's earthquake day can instruct populations on how
to deal with hazard events.

Nature of society - in highly centralised government structures, efficient response may be the result.
However, it can also lead to bureacracy and a lack of autonomous decision making, which slows down
relief efforts.

Understanding of the area - recent migrants are likely to struggle to cope compared to established
populations.

Community preparedness

Building codes - Japan's rigorous (and applied!) building codes protect most buildings from collapse
during earthquakes. In the 1995 Kobe earthquake, most of the deaths occurred in older parts of the city.

Scientific monitoring and early warning systems - established monitoring can prepare people e.g. the
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami had no early warning system; a similar event in the Pacific would have been
monitored and action taken to evacuate coastal areas.

Communication networks - Countries with good quality and widespread networks allow messages to be
quickly shared. This links closely with the 'information flows' of Global Interactions Part 3 (see case study
of Haiti).

Emergency planning - where monitoring and communication is in place, the emergency planning is likely
to prepare for such events and take action based on data, rather than prediction. Many countries
undertaken emergency practice days for many events, e.g. the Bank Station terrorism exercise in
London in 2003

Dealing with the after-effects

Insurance cover - individuals purchase insurance to mitigate the loss, thus preparing them better for
similar future events

Emergency personnel - this is the after effect of training undertaken as part of community
preparedness. The availability of such personnel will vary depending on the time of day and location of
the hazard event.
Aid requests - outside help is necessary during a disaster. However, this is sometimes slow to be
requested resulting in further deaths and loss of property.

EXPLAIN THE REASONS FOR SOME SECTORS OF A POPULATION BEING MORE VULNERABLE THAN
OTHERS.

Sectors of a population can refer to many factors:

Age

Gender

Disabilities

New migrants

Socio-economic status (e.g. level of education, profession)

Income