Disaster Readiness and

Risk Reduction
Quarter 1 – Module 5:
Vulnerability
 Lesson Explain the meaning of
1 Vulnerability

Vulnerability can determine the ability of an person or a group to predict, cope

with, resist and recover from the effects of a natural or human-induced threat.
As vulnerability increases, it means that the population is at greater risk of
suffering from a severe natural danger.

What’s In

Direction: Spot the hazard. Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.

` Figure A Figure B

Left: "DSCF0856" by gvlx, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0;

Right: "Unsafe construction in Macau" by Azchael, licensed under CC BY 2.0

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 2. After knowing the hazards in your house, what is your plan of action
to avoid harm?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

What is It

Vulnerability Defined

Vulnerability is a state of being at risk. According to Republic Act 10121

also known as ‘Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of
2010’, vulnerability is defined as the characteristics and circumstances of a
community, system or resource that make it susceptible to the damaging
effects of a hazard. With all the identified hazard at home, there is a
possibility that some family members might be susceptible or prone to the
accident due to the presence of hazard.

Vulnerability is also situation specific. This means that if a specific

province is prone to earthquake, it does not mean that all localities on that
province is vulnerable to it. The vulnerability of different towns or cities or
even provinces differ in the way they prepare for the hazard and the amount
and type of resources they have in order prevent and manage it. To lessen
vulnerability means to make the community prepared and ready for the
possible damaging effect of the hazard. This further means that to make the
community less vulnerable, it must be resilient. So, to develop resiliency at
home, you should first identify the hazards and be prepared all the time for
the possible outcome and respond immediately.

Moreover, it is also hazard specific. A community that is vulnerable to

earthquake hazard does not necessarily mean that it is also vulnerable to
typhoons. Hazards have different traits that can influence the disasters
possible to happen.

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Disaster Readiness and
Risk Reduction
Quarter 1 – Module 6:
Vulnerability in Disaster
 What is It

Level of vulnerability of an area or community can be assessed base on

different factors. These factors can affect one another or can lead to other
factors.

Factors affecting vulnerability of one’s community:

1. Population density near a hazard event.

• Population differs from population density.
• Population refers to the number of individuals inhabiting in a
particular space at the same time. If people are well distributed,
there is lesser effect of disaster.
• Population density refers to the number of individuals living in
an area in relation to the size of an area. If population density is
high, it means that the number of individuals is high but the
space is very small. In that case, if fire broke in that area, there
is little space for the population to escape quickly and easily. So,
crowded communities have higher vulnerability to hazards.
• The primary consideration is not the population size but the
population density.

2. Capacity and efficiency to reduce Disaster Risk.

• Community that is less vulnerable has the capacity to reduce
disaster risk because;
1. It can provide accessibility and availability of services and
facilities during and after disaster.
2. It has the ability to anticipate, adapt, and respond to possible
disaster.
• Is it appropriate to say that The Philippines is less vulnerable to
typhoon? Nowadays, our country has advanced technology to
predict super typhoon and several municipalities already
provided evacuation centers to provide temporary housing for
victims when disaster occur.

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Disaster Readiness and
Risk Reduction
Quarter 1 – Module 7:
Vulnerabilities of Different
Elements Exposed to Hazards
 Lesson
Recognize vulnerabilities of
different elements exposed
1 to specific hazards.

The learners in this module will realize that recognizing the vulnerabilities of different
elements exposed to hazard will help the community design to formulate strategies
on prevention, mitigation, and immediate response and possible rehabilitations after
a major event such as natural disasters, war and the other similar situations.

What’s In

Direction: Classify the following words/phrase according to the given category

below. Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.

agricultural land hospital seashore

barangay response team marine resources social status

bridges railroads subdivision

fish pond rainforest telecommunications

government schools transportation

Category 1 Category 2 Category 3

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If you are going to assign labels or headings for each category, what could it be?
Category 1 ______________________________________
Category 2 ______________________________________
Category 3 ______________________________________

Notes to the Teacher

There are several possible answers. Consider answers that are
relevant to the questions and could have been a possible answer
but not included in the answer key.

What’s New

Direction: Concept map is a visual representation that shows relationships between

concepts. Arrange the following words or phrase into a concept map. Under the
diagram, explain how did you come up with your output and cite your basis. (see the
sample concept map below)

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GUIDE WORDS:

ecosystem exposed response and recovery tangible

elements hazard risk
environmental physical socio-economic

What is It

Vulnerabilities of different elements are determined due to its

exposure to particular and specific hazard.

Physical vulnerability includes population density levels, place

of a settlement, the site design, and materials used for infrastructure
and housing. When hazardous events occur, normally physical
elements are severely damaged. For example, UP Visayas buildings
were totally destroyed during the super typhoon Yolanda in 2008
leaving the structure totally damaged. Another example is the
decreased in population density like what happened in Baguio during
the 1990 earthquake in North Luzon when a lot of people were injured
and died.

Social vulnerability happens due to inability of people,

organization, and societies to prevent severe effects from hazards
because of the expected behavior in social interactions, institutions,
and system of cultural values. For example, during typhoon the line of

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communications were cut off when cell sites shutdown or disruption of
transport system due to inability of small vehicles to pass through the
flooded areas or unpassable roads and bridges. With some difficulties
in the delivery of services such as relief goods and medicines, a lot of
problems occurred like shortage of food and spread of infectious
diseases. Therefore, when social elements were exposed to hazard,
these may lead to disruption of normal processes and activities in the
community.

Level of economic vulnerability is based on the economic status

of individuals, communities, and nations. The poorer the country, the
more vulnerable to disasters because they lack the funds or budgets to
build sturdy structures and put other engineering measures in place
which protect them from being affected by disasters. So, we can say
that Philippines is more vulnerable to an event such as earthquake
compared to Japan. Though both countries are exposed to earthquake
hazard because both are located in the Pacific ring of fire, but due to
differences in economic status, Japan is more resilient because of its
ability to afford changes in architectural and engineering designs of
building and infrastructures to make them less vulnerable to
earthquake. Another example is the Covid-19 pandemic wherein the
most affected are those who belong to low income and informal workers.

Social and economic vulnerability can be combined also known

as socioeconomic vulnerability.

Environmental vulnerability is caused by natural resources

depletion and destruction. Organisms like humans, animals, and
plants are all dependent on the environment for survival. Human
activities like deforestation, burning of fossil fuels, and kaingin affect
the natural abilities of the environment to protect itself from any natural
hazard due to absence of trees which may cause landslide and
flashfloods. Sometimes the effects are irreversible.

Quantifying vulnerability is used in estimating how much

mitigation and preparedness measures will be applied. Computation is
based on the previous hazard events and severity of their effects.
Vulnerability can be expressed as: 0 = lowest degree of vulnerability and
1 as the highest degree. Vulnerability of people is the ratio of casualties
or injured to the total population. Vulnerability of buildings is
expressed as a repair cost or degree of damage.

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 The Philippines has high vulnerability due to the following
reasons:
• It lies in the Pacific typhoon belt and we are visited by an
average of 20 typhoons every year.
• Rugged nature of the landscape makes it vulnerable to
landslide, mudflows, and other disasters.
• It is an archipelagic country with many small islands where
some areas are at below sea level.
• It has the longest shoreline in the world at 32,400 km making
it vulnerable to storm surges.
• It is still a primary agricultural and fishing economy.
• With poor institutional and social capacity to manage,
respond, and recover from natural hazard events.
• With high level of poverty
• Aside from typhoon, it is also at risk to volcanic eruptions,
quakes, and floods.

What’s More

Direction: Classify the following phrases and sentences whether it is

PHYSICAL, SOCIOECONOMICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL
VULNERABILITY.

1. shutdown of telecommunication tower

2. houses built near fault lines
3. denudation of forests
4. rest houses near Boracay shoreline
5. Twenty-story building constructed on soil mainly made up of clay.
6. bridges with cracks and crevices
7. overfertilization of agricultural soil
8. Lost of job due to COVID-19 pandemic.
9. possible retrenchment of ABS CBN employees due to its shutdown
10. Destruction of coral reefs that serves as barriers against storm surge.

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Disaster Readiness and
Risk Reduction
Quarter 1 – Module 8:
Effects of Hazard, Exposure and
Vulnerability to Disaster Risks
14. It is the action of reducing the severity, seriousness or painfulness of
something.
a. migration
b. misconception
c. mitigation
d. mutation

15. Which is not belong to the General classification of elements at risk?

a. population
b. infrastructures
c. essential facilities
d. transportation facilities

Hazards, Exposure, and

Vulnerabilities from actual
situations

Several countries, including the Philippines, have experienced disasters

affecting the property, assets and lives of the Filipino people , especially the
COVID 19 Pandemic, which kills millions of people not only in the Philippines
but worldwide. Today, it 's important to be extra cautious and mindful all the
time. The topic will eventually address concepts of hazard, exposure and
vulnerability and how they vary from each other and how important they are.

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 What’s New

A Sample essay:

Figure 1. The aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy.

Back when I was 7 years old, when I still lived in the Philippines, I woke
up in the middle of night to the sounds of the trees near our home violently
swaying against the house and the terrifying howls of the wind. Now, bare in
mind, that this was the Philippines. The 2nd country of the world to have the
most typhoons. At first, we tried to ignore it, thinking that it would pass by
soon but we were quickly proven wrong though once we got a hold of the Wi-
Fi and saw online that this weather was labeled as a Signal No. 2. It meant
that this certain typhoon was capable of generating floods and strong waves. I
became even more terrified when I saw my father get me and my sister down
to the 1st floor and in the extra bedroom. Throughout the walk, you could feel
the house shake and tremble.

Once we reached the room, with all honesty, I was sure that I was going
to die. The thing, too, is that in front of our house, stood a large tree. And
during this event, it was swaying so violently that you’d expect it to fall directly

7
 on our house. We were saying our prayers and my parents repeatedly told me
and my sibling how much they loved us.

When the night passed by though, we were greatly relieved. We thought

the bad fortune was over. Until we saw my cousins’ house.

Flooded up to the 3rd floor. Their store collapsed. And barely any of their
items were rescued. It saddens me, really, recalling my older cousin, Ate
Hannah, who was usually the calm one, sit by the stairs to our home, holding
and crying about her stuffed-toy. It was soggy, destroyed, and ruined.

In a way though, it brought our family closer together. My father and I

actually also traveled to my cousins’ neighborhood and passed out clothes and
mattresses. While I felt happy being able to help others, it’s sadder seeing some
of the families be so desperate.

And at the time, none of us really knew, that we have survived the
second most devastating tropical cyclone in the 2009 Pacific typhoon season
of the Philippines; Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana)

Chloe N. “Personal experience; lived in the Philippines”, January 24, 2017.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-it-like-to-experience-a-typhoon

Direction: Analyze and answer the following questions after the given
scenario.

SITUATION 1:
You are a mom. You live in Brgy. Aplaya, which is right next to Laguna de Bay.
You have a 2-storey house, and the ground floor where your sari-sari store is
situated already flooded. You wrapped your baby and went to the second floor,
but the flood is fast rising and you are likely to get trapped. Your husband went
to Barangay Hall, where they prepared boats, but he has not yet come back.

1. Determine the hazards given in the story.

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

2. What are the possible ways to lessen the vulnerability of the exposed
elements to hazard? Explain your answer.

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

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SITUATION 2:

You are in grade 12, at your age you usually spend your time with your friends and
go other places with them. You are very much excited because this is the day where
you and your friends have been waiting for, A moment later President Duterte
announced the Enhanced Community Quarantine in entire Luzon because of the
COVID-19 Pandemic. You and your friends decided not to continue your outing and
change it into friends gathering party near you.

1. Determine the hazard given in the story.

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

2. What are the possible ways to lessen the vulnerability of the exposed
elements to hazard? Explain your answer.
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

What is It

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 Hazard is a harmful condition, substance, human behavior or condition that
can cause loss of life, injury or other health effects, harm to property, loss of
livelihood and services, social and economic disruption or damage to the
environment. Any risk which is imminent is threat.

Exposure is the presence of elements at risk or chance of being harmed from

a natural or man-made hazard event. Elements include the individuals, households
or communities, properties, buildings and structures, agricultural commodities,
livelihoods, and public facilities, infrastructures and environmental assets present
in an area that are subject to potential damage or even losses. The more a community
is exposed to hazard factors, the higher is the disaster risk or higher chance disaster
occurrence.

Vulnerability means the characteristics and circumstances of a

community, system, or asset, that make it susceptible to the damaging effects of
a hazard and inability of a community to prevent, mitigate, prepare for and
respond to hazardous events.

Risk implies the probability of possible adverse effects. This results from the
interaction of social and environmental systems, from the combination of physical
danger, and exposed item vulnerabilities.

Disaster is a serious disruption to the functioning of a community or society

which causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses that
exceed the capacity of the community or society concerned to cope with the use of
their own resources. It results from the mix of hazards, risk conditions and
inadequate capability or measures.

Exposure and vulnerability, on the other hand, are distinct. A certain

community can be exposed but it does not mean that it is vulnerable. Buildings and
structures in Japan are exposed to earthquake, but they are not vulnerable since
their architectural and engineering designs are earthquake proof or resistant.
However, to become vulnerable, it must be exposed to hazard first.

Exposure to hazard can make a community vulnerable. But not all

communities that are exposed to hazard can be considered vulnerable. Vulnerability
depends on the preparedness and readiness to a hazard of the community. It
depends mostly on how they mitigate, respond, and recover. If a certain community

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has the ability to reduce the vulnerability by reducing the risk, the said community
is already considered as less vulnerable or resilient.

Physical elements Population

Buildings: Urban land use, Density of population, distribution in

construction types, building height, space, distribution in time, age
building age, total floor space, distribution, gender distribution,
replacement costs. handicapped, income distribution

Monuments and cultural heritage

Essential facilities Socio-economic aspects

Emergency shelters, Schools, Hospitals, Organization of population,

Fire Brigades, Police, governance, community organization,
government support, socio-economic
levels. Cultural heritage and
traditions.
Transportation facilities Economic activities

Roads, railway, metro, public Spatial distribution of economic

transportation systems, harbor facilities, activities, input-output table,
airport facilities. dependency, redundancy,
unemployment, economic
production in various sectors.
Life lines Environmental elements

Water supply, electricity supply, gas Ecosystems, protected areas, natural

supply, telecommunications, mobile parks, environmentally sensitive
telephone network, sewage system. areas, forests, wetlands, aquifers,
flora, fauna, biodiversity.

C.J. Van Wester , “General Classification of Elements at Risk”, Caribbean Handbook on Risk Information
Management, C.J. Van Wester http://www.charim.net/methodology/52

Disaster mitigation measures are those that eliminate or reduce the impacts and
risks of hazards by means of proactive measures taken before an emergency or
disaster takes place. Mitigation is the action of reducing something's severity,
seriousness, or painfulness.

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 What’s More

Activity 1: Tell me!

Direction: Analyze the picture below and answer the questions that follow.

Guide Questions:

1. What can you say about the picture? What does the quotation mean?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2. What is the hazard in the picture/ situation?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
3. What is being exposed in the picture/ situation?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
4. Why do you think the character in the picture is vulnerable?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

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