STO. NIÑO COLLEGE OF ORMOC INC.

Doña Feliza Mejia Village

Ormoc City

Name: ___________________________ Strand: _______________________

KEY CONCEPTS OF DISASTER, HAZARD,

VULNERABILITY, AND CAPACITY
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At end of the Chapter I, the students are expected to:
1. Define key concepts of disaster, hazard, vulnerability, and capacity.
2. Explain the meaning of disaster risk and the occurrence of disaster.
3. Assess how hazards, vulnerability, and capacity relate to disaster.

THE CONCEPT OF CAPACITY

What is capacity?
According to the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction or UNISDR (2009),
capacity refers to, "all the strengths, attributes and resources available within a community, organization, or
society that can be used to achieve an agreed goal." These qualities give space to citizens and communities to
cope with, overcome the adverse effects of, and reduce the risks of disasters through preparation, mitigation and
recovery. Hence the call is to develop and build these capacities categorized as socioeconomic, political,
ideological/cultural, physical, organizational, and leadership.
The United Nations Development Programme or UNDP (2009) defines capacity development as "the
process through which individuals, organizations, and societies obtain, strengthen, and maintain the capabilities
to set and achieve their own development objectives over time." Moreover, UNDP (2009) identified a number of
assumptions in developing sustainable DRR capacities, which consist of the following:

• Essential to the success of any DRR initiative is also ensuring locally generated, owned, and sustained
capacity.
• Rather than on any single agency, professional discipline, or stakeholder group; development of DRR
capacity is the concern of an entire society.
• The development of technical capacities associated with professional disciplines or functions such as
environmental management or land-use management-needs to be combined with other types of capacity
development that include the promotion of leadership and other managerial capacities and performance-
enhancing measures.
• An enabling environment-i.e. strong political ownership and commitment at the highest levels of authority,
extensive participation, transparency, and clear public accountability-is essential for translating capacity
into performance.
SOURCE: http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library
 It is also essential to understand the community's coping capacity in relation with disaster. Coping capacity is "the
ability of people, organizations, and systems, using available skills and resources, to face and manage adverse
conditions, emergencies or disasters (UNISDR 2009)." The ability to cope entails sustained situation assessment,
awareness building, and resource mobilization and management. The community's level of coping mechanisms
and readiness determine the breadth and depth of disaster risk reduction.

Some examples of capacity:

a. Ownership of land and safe location and construction of home
b. Adequate income
c. Savings
d. Adequate food sources
e. Local knowledge
f. Family and community support in times of crises
g. Responsive local government
h. Enabling legislation
i. Strong community organizations

Community members and groups have different vulnerabilities and capacities. Different individuals,
families, and groups in the community have different vulnerabilities and capacities. These are determined by age,
gender, class, social class, ethnicity, language, religion, and physical location.

CAPACITY ASSESSMENT

Capacity assessment refers to the process whereby "people identify resources they rely on in times of crisis to
reduce the damaging effects of hazards and to secure the sustainability of their livelihood" (Oyetunmbi, n.d., p.1).
According to Oyetunmbi (n.d., 4) capacity assessment aims to:

1. understand people's previous experiences with hazards that enabled them to develop coping strategies,
and

2. to look into available resources (material, organizational and attitudinal) that the community uses to
prepare for and to mitigate the negative effects of the disaster.

Toward the goal of undertaking a capacity assessment, a Capacity and Vulnerability Analysis (CVA) matrix is a
useful guide to gather information on both resources and vulnerabilities of the people. According to Kieft and Nur
(n.d.), "During disasters, the community's vulnerabilities are more pronounced than their capacities."

The CVA matrix identifies vulnerabilities as "long-term factors that affect a community's ability to respond to
events or make it susceptible to disasters" and views "people's vulnerabilities and capacities in three broad,
interrelated areas: physical/material, social/orgnizational, and motivational/attitudinal" (Canon, et al., n.d., 7).
The CVA approach and matrix are explained in detail in the book Rising from the Ashes (1989) by Mary Anderson
and Peter Woodrow, but a brief discussion of the CVA matrix is provided below.

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 Capacity and Vulnerability Analysis (CVA) Matrix
Vulnerabilities Capacities
Physical/Material
What productive resources, skills
and hazards exist?
Social/Organizational
What are the relations and
organizations among people?
Motivational/Attitudinal
How does the community view its
ability to create change?
SOURCE: Cannon, T, Twigg, J. & Rowell, J (n.d.) Social Vulnerability, Sustainable Livelihoods and Disasters. Report to DFID Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance
Department (CHAD) and Sustainable Livelihoods Support Office. Retrieved from http://www.eldis.org/go/ home&id=21628&type-Document# VvdDmMlwy5w

The features of the physical/material, social/organizational, and motivational/attitudinal vulnerabilities and

capacities are described in detail. below.

Physical/material vulnerability and capacity. The most visible area of vulnerability... It includes land,
climate, environment, health, skills and labor, infrastructure, housing, finance and technologies. Poor
people suffer from crises more often than people who are richer because they have little or no savings,
few income or production options, and limited resources. They are more vulnerable and recover more
slowly. To understand physical/material vulnerabilities, one has to ask what made the people affected by
disaster physically vulnerable: was it their economic activities (e.g., farmers cannot plant because of
floods), geographic location (e.g., homes built in cyclone-prone areas) or poverty/ lack of resources?

Social/organizational vulnerability and capacity. How society is organized, its internal conflicts and how
it manages them are just as important as the physical/material dimension of vulnerability, but less visible
and less well understood. This aspect includes formal political structures and the informal systems through
which people get things done. Poor societies that are well organized and cohesive can withstand or recover
from disasters better than those where there is little of no organization and communities are divided (e.g.,
by race, religion, class or caste). To explore this aspect, one has to ask what the social structure was before
the disaster and how well it served the people when disaster struck; one can also ask what impact disasters
have on social organization.

Motivational/attitudinal vulnerability and capacity. This area includes how people in society view
themselves and their ability to affect their environment. Groups that share strong ideologies or belief
systems, or have experience of cooperating successfully, may be better able to help each other at times of
disaster than groups without such shared beliefs or those who feel fatalistic or dependent. Crises can
stimulate communities to make extraordinary efforts. Questions to be asked here include what people's
beliefs and motivations are, and how disasters affect them (Cannon, et al., n.d., p.7).

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 *** *** ***

THE PADAYON SERIES Building Resilient Communities

Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction
Authors: Maria Isabel B. LANADA
MA. LOURDES F. MELEGRITO, PhD Cand.
Diana J. MENDOZA, PhD
Project Director: RONALDO B. MACTAL, PhD

Phoenix Publishing House

2016

Disclaimer: The School and the instructor do not claim any rights or ownership of the information found in
the learning material or module. It is a compilation from different resources which are listed in the reference
section this is solely for educational purposes only.

CHAPTER TEST
(Check Your Understanding)
Reflection Question

What is the importance of capacity assessment in disaster prevention and mitigation, emergency response,
and recovery and rehabilitation?

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