Study Note - Global Inequalities and Natural Hazards – Vulnerability

The impact of natural hazards on a population is exacerbated by their vulnerability. At its most basic, ‘vulnerability’ means being prone or susceptible to damage or injury.

Within the context of natural hazards and populations, vulnerability can be described as ‘the characteristics of a person or group and their situation that influence their capacity to anticipate, cope with, resist and recover from the impact of a natural hazard’ (Wisner et al, 2004).

Normally, vulnerability incorporates socio-economic position and, in general the poor suffer more from natural hazards than the rich. This can be applied to the level of development of a country by saying that, in general, developing countries suffer more from natural hazards than well-developed countries.

Aysan (1993) recognised several types of vulnerability, as follows:

• Lack of access to resources (materials/economic vulnerability)

• Disintegration of social patterns (social vulnerability)

• Lack of strong national and local institutional structures (organizational vulnerability)

• Lack of access to information and knowledge (educational vulnerability)

• Lack of public awareness (attitudinal and motivational vulnerability)

• Limited access to political power and representation (political vulnerability)

• Certain beliefs and customs (cultural vulnerability)

• Weak buildings of weak individuals (physical vulnerability)

A straightforward analysis of the basic economic factors of a population, such as poverty and wealth, can heavily illustrate the vulnerability of that group of people.

One example would be heavy rainfall: this hazard may wash away homes in the wealthy hillside residential areas of California, such as Topanga Canyon (on the outskirts of Los Angeles), as well as the homes of the poor in Rio de Janeiro and Caracas, but the vulnerability of the populations affects the amount that the populations suffer.

Few rich people are affected if we compare the number of people affected by landslides across the world as money can buy design and engineering that reduces the risk, and therefore the vulnerability, even if the house is built on an exposed slope. The poor would not have access to that technology when constructing their houses, and therefore the effect is often much greater.

*Wisner et al (2004) At Risk, Routledge