# Presentation: 707780

## Vulnerability and Catastrophe

- Understanding and Addressing Liabilities and Capacities

## Introduction

- Recent events
- 9/11
- Indian Ocean Tsunami
- Hurricane Katrina

## Thinking Differently

- “Vulnerability is a greater determinant of disaster than hazards themselves” (Alexander 2006, 2).

## Questions to Address

- What is vulnerability?
- What are the causes of vulnerability?
- Who can be or is vulnerable?
- How can vulnerability be reduced?

## What is Vulnerability?

- Divergence of opinion
- “Vulnerability is the likelihood that an individual or group will be exposed to and adversely affected by a hazard” (Cutter 1996, 532).
- “Vulnerability is the potential for loss” (Mitchell as cited by Cutter 1996, 532).
- “Vulnerability is a state of defenselessness which renders a community powerless to withstand the debilitating effects of events commonly perceived as disaster or natural hazard” (Mustafa 1989, 290).
- “The degree to which a system or part of a system may react adversely to the occurrence of a hazardous event” (Timmerman 1981, 21).

## What is Vulnerability? (cont.)

- Areas of convergence (liabilities)
- “A measure, for a given population or region, of the underlying factors that influence exposure to the hazardous event and predisposition to the adverse consequences” (Downing as cited by Green 2004, 323).
- “It involves a combination of factors that determine the degree to which someone’s life or livelihood is put at risk by a discrete and identifiable event in nature or society” (Wisner et. al. 2004, 11).
- “The likelihood that a person will be negatively affected by environmental hazards” (Bolin and Stanford 1998, 9).

## What is Vulnerability? (cont.)

- Areas of convergence (capabilities)
- “A function of a system’s ability to cope with stress and shock” (Nicholls and Dlein as cited by Green 2004, 323).
- “The characteristics of a person or group in terms of their capacity to anticipate, cope with, resist, and recover from the impact of natural hazards” (Wisner et. al. 2004, 11).
- “Refers to the resources and coping abilities of specific community to a specific hazard” (Lindsay as cited by NOAA 2006).

## What is Vulnerability? (cont.)

- Accepting both features (liabilities and capabilities)
- “Vulnerability . . . Refers to exposure to contingencies and stress, and difficulty in coping with them.  Vulnerability thus has two sides: an external side of risks, shocks and stress to which an individual or household is subject, and an internal side which is defenselessness, meaning a lack of means to cope without damaging loss” (Chambers 1989, 1).
- “Vulnerability is a product of physical exposure to natural hazard, and human capacity to prepare for or mitigate and to recover from (cope with) any negative impacts of disaster” (Pellinga and Uitto 2001, 50).

## What Causes Vulnerability?

- Physical causes
- Location
- Construction
- Technology
- Social causes
- Culture
- Politics
- Demographic patterns
- Economics

## What Causes Vulnerability? (cont.)

- Additional causes
- Dropout rate
- Breakup of families
- Loss of farming skills
- Obesity
- Etc.

## Who Is or Can be Vulnerable?

- Individuals
- Groups
- Organizations
- Communities
- Nations
- Complex relationships

## How Can Vulnerability be Reduced?

- Address liabilities
- Risk
- Susceptibility
- Address capabilities
- Resistance
- Resilience

## How Can Vulnerability be Reduced? (cont.)

- Address risk
- Understand what can happen
- Protect the environment
- Locate people and property in safer areas
- Warn and evacuate people

## How Can Vulnerability be Reduced? (cont.)

- Address susceptibilities
- Overcome apathy
- Reduce poverty
- Improve health
- Anticipate and react effectively to demographic changes

## How Can Vulnerability be Reduced? (cont.)

- Address resistance
- Construct homes and structures with latest engineering techniques
- Build infrastructure with disasters in mind
- Improve building codes and enforce them
- Apply technology carefully

## How Can Vulnerability be Reduced? (cont.) 

- Address Resilience
- Prepare and plan
- Give more resources to emergency management
- Network
- Rely on insurance

## How Can Vulnerability be Reduced? (cont.)

- A holistic approach
- Assess liabilities and capabilities
- Reduce risk and susceptibilities
- Build resistance and resilience

## Thank You!

- David A. McEntire
- Associate Professor
- Emergency Administration and Planning
- Department of Public Administration
- University of North Texas
- _[mcentire@unt.edu](mailto:mcentire@unt.edu)_
- (940) 565-2996