Disaster Risk: Understanding the Concept PDF

Disaster Risk: Understanding the Concept Disaster risk is the potential for loss and damage caused by a hazardous event or process. It is the combination of the severity of a threat and the vulnerability of the affected community or system. Understanding disaster risk is crucial for developing effec...

Disaster Risk: Understanding the Concept Disaster risk is the potential for loss and damage caused by a hazardous event or process. It is the combination of the severity of a threat and the vulnerability of the affected community or system. Understanding disaster risk is crucial for developing effective strategies to prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies. by Jeanette Tamayo Process Questions What are the risk involved in disaster What are the effects of disaster have you seen on the video. Risk is defined as “the combination of the probability of an event and its negative consequences” (UNISDR, 2009).  What is Disaster Risk? ✓ Disaster risk is the potential for negative consequences where something of value is at stake, and the outcome is uncertain. Risk refers to the potential (not actual and realized) disaster losses, in lives, health status, livelihoods, assets, and services which could occur in a community or society over some specified future time period. Disaster risk is the product of the possible damage caused by a hazard due to the vulnerability within a community. It should be noted that the effect of a hazard (of a particular magnitude) would affect communities differently (Von Kotze, 1999:35). Components of Disaster Risk 1 Hazards 2 Exposure Natural, technological, or The people, assets, systems, human-induced events that or other elements present in have the potential to cause hazard zones that are harm. thereby subject to potential losses. 3 Vulnerability The conditions determined by physical, social, economic, and environmental factors or processes that increase the susceptibility of an individual, a community, assets, or systems to the impacts of hazards. 1. Exposure - the “elements at risk from a natural or man-made hazard event (Quebral, 2016). 2. 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. 3. 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 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. Factors that underlie disaster 1. 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 time periods” 2. Environmental Degradation - changes to the environment can influence the frequency and intensity of hazards, as well as our exposure and vulnerability to these hazards. ✓ Ex. 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. ❖ Over consumption 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. 3. 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 4. 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 (Wisner et al., 2004), particularly extensive risk, with drought being the hazard most closely associated with poverty (Shepard et al., 2013). 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 5. 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. 6. 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 (UNISDR, 2015a). ✓ Disaster risk governance refers to the specific arrangements that societies put in place to manage their disaster risk (UNISDR, 2011a; UNDP, 2013a) within a broader context of risk governance (Renn, 2008 in UNISDR, 2015a). Disaster Risk Assessment 1 Hazard Analysis Identify and evaluate potential hazards. 2 Vulnerability Assessment Determine the susceptibility of people, assets, and systems to the identified hazards. 3 Exposure Analysis Assess the presence and location of people, assets, and systems that could be affected by the hazards. Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies Mitigation Preparedness Response Recovery Disaster risk reduction strategies aim to minimize the adverse impacts of hazards through a comprehensive approach that includes mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. Written Task Am I Ready? Direction: Suppose you are invited by the SK Chairman in your barangay as a resource speaker to your fellow age group during an Environmental Awareness Activity and you were asked to give emphasis on the risk factors underlying disasters so that young people will be equipped with knowledge on how to mitigate the effects of a disaster. Have a concept in mind of how you are going to deliver the information. Write down what you want to deliver to the audience.