DRRR M2-Risk Factors Underlying Disasters

Exposure, Hazard, Vulnerability

Disaster risk as defined in the first module, has three important elements such as:

Exposure

the “elements at risk from a natural or man-made hazard event

Hazard

a potentially dangerous physical occurrence, phenomenon or human activity that may result in loss of life or injury, property damage, social and economic disruption, or environmental degradation.

Vulnerability

the condition determined by physical, social, economic and environmental factors or processes, which increase the susceptibility of a community to the impact of hazard.

Risk Factors

are processes or conditions, often development-related, that influence the level of disaster risk by increasing levels of exposure and vulnerability or reducing capacity.

Severity of exposure, Gender and Family, Age, Economic status of country

The following are also taken into consideration when risk factors underlying disaster are involved:

Severity of exposure

which measures those who experience disaster first-hand which has the highest risk of developing future mental problems, followed by those in contact with the victims such as rescue workers and health care practitioners and the lowest risk are those most distant like those who have awareness of the disaster only through news.

Gender and Family

the female gender suffers more adverse effects. This worsens when children are present at home. Marital relationships are placed under strain.

Age

adults in the age range of 40-60 are more stressed after disasters but in general, children exhibit more stress after disasters than adults do.

Economic status of country

- evidence indicates that severe mental problems resulting from disasters are more prevalent in developing countries like the Philippines.

Economic status of country

-Furthermore, it has been observed that natural disasters tend to have more adverse effects in developing countries than do man-caused disasters in developed countries.

Climate Change, Environmental Degradation, Globalized Economic Development, Poverty and Inequality, Poorly planned and Managed Urban Development, Weak Governance

Factors which underlie disasters:

Climate Change

-can increase disaster risk in a variety of ways – by altering the frequency and intensity of hazards events, affecting vulnerability to hazards, and changing exposure patterns.

-For most people, the expression “climate change” means the alteration of the world’s climate that we humans are causing such as burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and other practices that increase the carbon footprint and concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. '

-This is in line with the official definition by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that climate change is the change that can be attributed “directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable periods”

Environmental Degradation

-changes to the environment can influence the frequency and intensity of hazards, as well as our exposure and vulnerability to these hazards.

-For instance, deforestation of slopes often leads to an increase in landslide hazard and removal of mangroves can increase the damage caused by storm surges (UNISDR, 2009b).

-It is both a driver and consequence of disasters, reducing the capacity of the environment to meet social and ecological needs.

-Overconsumption of natural resources results in environmental degradation, reducing the effectiveness of essential ecosystem services, such as the mitigation of floods and landslides. This leads to increased risk from disasters, and in turn, natural hazards can further degrade the environment.

Globalized Economic Development

-It results in an increased polarization between the rich and poor on a global scale. Currently increasing the exposure of assets in hazard prone areas, globalized economic development provides an opportunity to build resilience if effectively managed.

-By participating in risk-sensitive development strategies such as investing in protective infrastructure, environmental management, and upgrading informal settlements, risk can be reduced. Dominance and increase of wealth in certain regions and cities are expected to have increased hazard exposure

Poverty and Inequality

-Impoverished people are more likely to live in hazard-exposed areas and are less able to invest in risk-reducing measures. The lack of access to insurance and social protection means that people in poverty are often forced to use their already limited assets to buffer disaster losses, which drives them into further poverty.

-Poverty is therefore both a cause and consequence of disaster risk, particularly extensive risk, with drought being the hazard most closely associated with poverty .

-The impact of disasters on the poor can, in addition to loss of life, injury and damage, cause a total loss of livelihoods, displacement, poor health, food insecurity, among other consequences. 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

Poorly planned and Managed Urban Development

-A new wave of urbanization is unfolding in hazard-exposed countries and with it, new opportunities for resilient investment emerge.

-People, poverty, and disaster risk are increasingly concentrated in cities. The growing rate of urbanization and the increase in population density (in cities) can lead to creation of risk, especially when urbanization is rapid, poorly planned and occurring in a context of widespread poverty. Growing concentrations of people and economic activities in many cities are seen to overlap with areas of high-risk exposure.

Weak Governance

-weak governance zones are investment environments in which public sector actors are unable or unwilling to assume their roles and responsibilities in protecting rights, providing basic services and public services.

-Disaster risk is disproportionately concentrated in lower-income countries with weak governance

-Disaster risk governance refers to the specific arrangements that societies put in place to manage their disaster risk within a broader context of risk governance . This reflects how risk is valued against a backdrop of broader social and economic concerns.