Disaster Risk And Vulnerability

The term 'natural disaster' is often used to refer to natural events such as earthquakes, hurricanes or floods. However, the phrase 'natural disaster' suggests an uncritical acceptance of a deeply engrained ideological and cultural myth. At Risk questions this myth and argues that extreme natural events are not disasters until a vulnerable group of people is exposed. The updated new edition confronts a further ten years of ever more expensive and deadly disasters and discusses disaster not as an aberration, but as a signal failure of mainstream 'development'. Two analytical models are provided as tools for understanding vulnerability. One links remote and distant 'root causes' to 'unsafe conditions' in a 'progression of vulnerability'. The other uses the concepts of 'access' and 'livelihood' to understand why some households are more vulnerable than others. Examining key natural events and incorporating strategies to create a safer world, this revised edition is an important resource for those involved in the fields of environment and development studies.

We think vulnerability still matters when considering how people are put at risk from hazards and this book shows why in a series of thematic chapters and case studies written by eminent disaster studies scholars that deal with the politics of disaster risk creation: precarity, conflict, and climate change. The chapters highlight different aspects of vulnerability and disaster risk creation, placing the stress rightly on what causes disasters and explaining the politics of how they are created through a combination of human interference with natural processes, the social production of vulnerability, and the neglect of response capacities. Importantly, too, the book provides a platform for many of those most prominently involved in launching disaster studies as a social discipline to reflect on developments over the past 50 years and to comment on current trends. The interdisciplinary and historical perspective that this book provides will appeal to scholars and practitioners at both the national and international level seeking to study, develop, and support effective social protection strategies to prevent or mitigate the effects of hazards on vulnerable populations. It will also prove an invaluable reference work for students and all those interested in the future safety of the world we live in.

Measuring Vulnerability to Natural Hazards presents a broad range of current approaches to measuring vulnerability. It provides a comprehensive overview of different concepts at the global, regional, national, and local levels, and explores various schools of thought. More than 40 distinguished academics and practitioners analyse quantitative and qualitative approaches, and examine their strengths and limitations. This book contains concrete experiences and examples from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe to illustrate the theoretical analyses.The authors provide answers to some of the key questions on how to measure vulnerability and they draw attention to issues with insufficient coverage, such as the environmental and institutional dimensions of vulnerability and methods to combine different methodologies.This book is a unique compilation of state-of-the-art vulnerability assessment and is essential reading for academics, students, policy makers, practitioners, and anybody else interested in understanding the fundamentals of measuring vulnerability. It is a critical review that provides important conclusions which can serve as an orientation for future research towards more disaster resilient communities.

From the Asian tsunami of 2004 to hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Tohoku earthquake of 2011, our century has been fraught with catastrophic natural disasters. Disaster Risk and Vulnerability assesses the human toll and economic losses of natural disasters and reasserts the importance of human collaboration and organization in disaster management. In most cases, policy makers, planners, managers, and regulators who implement disaster risk reduction response planning and management strategies remain detached from local conditions, failing to address them effectively. Presenting case studies from Asia and North America, as well as a broad range of approaches to community mobilization and partnership development, contributors show that local communities, all levels of government, and non-governmental organizations must work collectively in order to reduce the harm caused by disasters. Despite unprecedented progress in science and technology and governments' continued efforts in disaster risk reduction, socioeconomic losses due to environmental disasters continue to rise. Disaster Risk and Vulnerability provides knowledge and information that will benefit anyone working in the fields of environment, disasters, and community mobilization in an effort to reverse this trend.

Climate change, combined with the rapid and often unplanned urbanisation trends, is associated with a rising trend in the frequency and severity of disasters triggered by natural hazards. In order to face the impacts of such threats, it is necessary to have an appropriate Disaster Risk Assessment (DRA). Traditional DRA approaches for disaster risk reduction (DRR) have focused mainly on the hazard component of risk, with little attention to the vulnerability and the exposure components. To address this issue, this dissertation’s main objective is to develop and test a disaster risk modelling framework that incorporates socioeconomic vulnerability and the adaptive nature of exposure associated with human behaviour in extreme hydro-meteorological events in the context of SIDS. To achieve the objective, an Adaptive Disaster Risk Assessment (ADRA) framework is proposed. ADRA uses an index-based approach (PeVI) to assess the socioeconomic vulnerability using three components: susceptibility, lack of coping capacities, and lack of adaptation. Furthermore, ADRA explicitly incorporates the exposure component using two approaches; first, a logistic regression model was built using the actual evacuation rates observed during Hurricane Irma, and second, an Agent-based model is used to simulate how households change their exposure levels in relation to different sources of information

The 2010 Haiti and Chili earthquakes, the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the 2011 Fukushima earthquake and tsunami in Japan are but a few examples of recent catastrophic events that continue to reveal how social structure and roles produce extensive human suffering and differential impacts on individuals and communities. These events bring social vulnerability to the forefront in considering how disasters unfold, clearly revealing that disasters are not created from the physical event alone. Equally important, people—even those considered vulnerable—respond in innovative and resilient ways that unveil the strength of human ingenuity and spirit. It is not a foregone conclusion that a hazard event, even a large one, will result in catastrophic loss. This updated second edition of Social Vulnerability to Disasters focuses on the social construction of disasters, demonstrating how the characteristics of an event are not the only reason that tragedies unfurl. By carefully examining and documenting social vulnerabilities throughout the disaster management cycle, the book remains essential to emergency management professionals, the independent volunteer sector, homeland security, and related social science fields, including public policy, sociology, geography, political science, urban and regional planning, and public health. The new edition is fully updated, more international in scope, and incorporates significant recent disaster events. It also includes new case studies to illustrate important concepts. By understanding the nuances of social vulnerability and how these vulnerabilities compound one another, we can take steps to reduce the danger to at-risk populations and strengthen community resilience overall. Features and Highlights from the Second Edition: Contains contributions from leading scholars, professionals, and academics, who draw on their areas of expertise to examine vulnerable populations Incorporates disaster case studies to illustrate concepts, relevant and seminal literature, and the most recent data available In addition to highlighting the U.S. context, integrates a global approach and includes numerous international case studies Highlights recent policy changes and current disaster management approaches Infuses the concept of community resilience and building capacity throughout the text Includes new chapters that incorporate additional perspectives on social vulnerability Instructor’s guide, PowerPoint® slides, and test bank available with qualifying course adoption

Examines the significance of the human factor which is as much of a cause of disasters as the natural environment. Practical and policy conclusions are drawn with a view to disaster reduction and the promotion of safer environments.

Examines the significance of the human factor which is as much of a cause of disasters as the natural environment. Practical and policy conclusions are drawn with a view to disaster reduction and the promotion of safer environments.