Hazard assessment and

Vulnerability assessment
 Understanding vulnerability

Figure 1. Risk is a function of natural hazards and vulnerable human-

environmental systems
 Purpose
The purposes of a vulnerability reduction
program are:
• Lessen loss of life
• Reduce potential damage
• Shorten disaster recovery period
What are the major concerns?
• Tropical storms – storm surges
• Hurricanes
• Floods/droughts
• Earthquakes
• Tsunamis
• Land slides
What increases the vulnerability
to natural disasters?
Social and environmental trends
• Rapid urbanization
• Unplanned human settlements
• Poorly engineered structures
• Lack of adequate infrastructure
• Poverty
• Inadequate environmental practices
– Deforestation
– Land degradation
The natural hazard management process

The natural hazard management process can be

divided into pre-event measures, actions during
and immediately following an event, and post-
disaster measures. In approximate chronological
order, these are as follows:
1. Pre-event Measures: .
2. Measures During and Immediately after
Natural Disasters
3. Post-disaster Measures
Vulnerability assessment what is
it?
Pre-event Measures: .
Measures During and immediately after
Natural Disasters
Post-disaster Measures
Vulnerability assessment what is it?

Vulnerability assessments are systematic

examinations of building elements, facilities,
population groups or components of the
economy to identify features that are
susceptible to damage from the effects of
natural hazards
The level of exposure of human life, property,
and resources to impact from hazards
Vulnerability assessment what is it?

It is a function of:

• The prevalence of the hazard

• Characteristics and quality of resources
• The population
Risks and vulnerability assessments
Risks and vulnerability assessments are usually carried out
together
• RVAs are performed for a variety of people, property, and
resources.
• The following are examples of several components of
RVAs:
• Critical Facilities Analyses
• Built Environment Analyses
• Societal Analyses
• Environmental Analyses
• Economic Analyses
 Vulnerability assessment
These assessments may be conducted
on three levels:
• macro level (e.g., multinational, regional,
national, or sub-national)
• micro level (e.g., metropolitan, urban,
community, neighborhood
• system level (e.g., network, grid, area,
individual structure)
 Vulnerability assessment
It can be applied to:

• Individual structures
• For specific sectors (agriculture,
tourism…)
• For selected geographical areas e.g.
areas air-marked for industry….
 What should the vulnerability
assessment tell us?
54% of land vulnerable to Earthquakes
8% of land vulnerable to Cyclones
5% of land vulnerable to Floods
 What tangible outcome should we
expect?

Earthquake
Hazard Map
 What tangible outcome should we
expect?

Wind and
Hurricane
Hazard Map
 What tangible outcome should we
expect?

Flood Hazard
Map
 Vulnerability assessment and data
collection
VA requires the collecting, analysis and synthesis of large
amounts of data.
• Consider VA for the housing sector from
earthquakes:
Building Type identified for Disaster Vulnerability
• Number of housing units
• Types and classification
– wall material and roof type,
– and number of building each type.
Example
 Class exercise
• Without using an established tool-kit

• How would you go about doing a

vulnerability assessment of sea level rise
for Tobago?
 Vulnerability and disaster
management plan
Recall it is a Pre-event measure
• Identification of various hazard prone areas,
• Vulnerability and Risk Assessment
of Buildings,
• Disaster damage scenarios,
• Technical Guidelines for Hazard
Example of Vulnerability Assessment Techniques
and Applications
 Global response
UN declaration of 1990-2000 as International Decade
for Natural Disaster Reduction brings into sharp
focus the miseries caused by natural disasters and the
need to take action.
Mid-term Review of IDNDR held at Yokohama in May
1994. Governments, NGOs, scientific community,
business, industry and the media shared experiences,
assessed the state of the problem and emphasized an
urgent shift in strategy
 The Yokohama Message
• Those affected most are the poor and the socially
disadvantaged in developing countries as they are
the least equipped to cope with the situation.
• Disaster Prevention, mitigation and preparedness are
better than disaster response.
• Disaster response alone yields temporary relief at a
very high cost.
• Prevention contributes to lasting improvement in
safety
 Summary
"The basic purpose of development is to enlarge people's
choices. In principle, these choices can be infinite and
can change over time. People often value achievements
that do not show up at all, or not immediately, in income
or growth figures: greater access to knowledge, better
nutrition and health services, more secure livelihoods,
security against crime and physical violence, satisfying
leisure hours, political and cultural freedoms and sense
of participation in community activities. The objective of
development is to create an enabling environment for
people to enjoy long, healthy and creative lives."
Mahbub ul Haq
 Case studies
Let us look at the following two cases:

• Comparative vulnerability to natural

disasters in the Caribbean
• http://www.csc.noaa.gov/vata/compare.pdf
 Readings
Hazard mitigation planning
(http://www.cdera.org/projects/champ/mitiplcy/vulnerb.shtml
About Risk and Vulnerability Assessments (RVAs)
http://www.csc.noaa.gov/vata/intro2.html
A probable maximum loss study of critical infrastructure in three
Caribbean States-Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis
http://www.csc.noaa.gov/vata/3carib.pdf