Hazard, vulnerability, and risk are some of the common terms that are used in the professional field of disaster management. The field of disaster management entails an organizational capacity to manage their resources and responsibilities prudently to deal with any humanitarian aspects of emergencies that they may experience through having an enhanced level of preparedness, response, and recovery in a bid to reduce the impact of the catastrophe (Shah et al., 2018). Disasters may occur naturally and/or through human intervention, which is also termed as human-made disasters. Disaster management experts assert that the comprehension of hazard, vulnerability, and risk is critical in enhancing mitigation measures that enhance the response level, preparedness, and planning.
Hazards in Disaster Management
A hazard in disaster management is described as a process, occurrence, or human activity that results in injury, loss, property damage, social, economic disruption, adverse health impacts, and environmental degradation. Hazards may occur from natural causes, human -inclined activities, or people's interaction with nature. The word 'hazard' in disaster management is sometimes used interchangeably with the word 'peril' particularities in risk management organizations, such as in the insurance industry. Hazards are described by the features or causal factors leading to their occurrence, and they may either physically occurring (natural) or technologically occurring (human-induced) (Akgün et al., 2015). Subject matter experts in the field of disaster management posit that efficient disaster risk reductions should expand their scope and move from not just happened to what could happen in the foreseeable future. These experts agree that most disasters that could happen have not yet occurred. This calls for a lot of research and fact-finding missions and budgetary allocation on how well we could enhance our level of response, preparedness, and reduction of loss and damage in the future disaster that has not occurred. The most common hazards are environmental, geological, geophysical, hydro-meteorological, and technological hazards.
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Vulnerability in Disaster Management
Vulnerability in disaster management is described as the reduced capacity by an individual or corporate entity to forestall, deal, oppose, and regain from the consequences of a natural or human inclined hazard. The vulnerability relates to the lack or reduced levels of preparedness, response, and recovery in cases where unexpected happenings take place. Therefore, it implies that vulnerability predisposes an individual or a group to massive damage, adverse health impacts, property loss, and lives in extreme case scenarios. The concept and discussion of vulnerability in disaster management are relative and may vary from one entity or individual to another. The level of risk exposure may be the factor that creates the difference in the level of vulnerability. The determination of the vulnerability level is addressed by a group or an individual asking them pertinent questions like what threat or hazard they are predisposed to or what makes them prone to the hazard or threat. Measures to counteract vulnerability in disaster management may be initiated by reducing the hazard's impact through warnings, mitigation, preparedness, and prediction (De Silva & Kawasaki, 2018). Building capacities to resist and cope with the hazards effectively addresses the vulnerability in disaster management. Addressing the root causes of vulnerability, such as discrimination, inequality, poor governance, is critical to counteracting vulnerability. The vulnerability may manifest in various ways, such as economic, physical, emotional, social, and attitudinal vulnerabilities. The level of predisposition to a risk or hazard is directly correlated to the extent of vulnerability. Efforts to handle the dynamic and relative vulnerability features should be based on a case-by-case basis as each is different from the other.
Risk in Disaster Management
Risk in the context of disaster management is described as the likelihood of the occurrence of injury, destruction, loss, the damage that could take place to a community or system within a certain period that is ascertained using probability as a function of the capacity, hazard, and exposure. It, therefore, implies that risk in disaster management is observed through the lens of time. Risk is recognized as the impact of the interaction between a hazard and the features that make people and places vulnerable to exposure risk. A section of subject matter experts in risk and disaster management asserts that the discussion of a natural disaster can be challenged as they hold to the belief that disasters usually follow the path of natural hazards (Zio, 2016). Therefore, it can be deduced that disasters pose a significant threat to development just as development is responsible for disaster risk. The risk factors in disaster management enhance people's comprehension of risk and how it can be avoided. The emergent, complex, dynamic, and invisible characteristics of risk are essential in managing risk and important in addressing how it can be alleviated. The prioritization or risk reduction techniques are essential in enhancing disaster response, preparedness, and mitigation of the damage. The level of risk exposure can be calculated as the product of the degree of vulnerability and the probability of hazard. The different ways of dealing are accepting it, avoiding it, reducing it, or transferring it to another person or corporate entity such as an insurance company.
Relationship between Hazards, Vulnerability, and Risk
The underlying relationship between hazards, vulnerability, and risk is the system or unit of harm, injury, damage to property, and the worries and stress created by these three concepts in the context of disaster management. The conditional likelihood or probability to the extent of harm, exposure of risk, and damage caused hazards, vulnerability, and risk is an issue that cuts across the board hence establishing a relationship between these concepts in disaster management (Porter, 2015). The predisposition to the occurrence of loss and future adjustments to enhance the level of resistance, response, preparedness, and reduction of damage is a factor that is evident in hazards, vulnerability, and risk hence establishing a relationship between them. Vulnerability is a component of risk, therefore establishing a direct correlation between the two, whereas increased vulnerability results in enhanced exposure or occurrence of the risk, which results in the realization of a hazard. Risk in disaster management is described as the chance of any hazard causing harm, damage, or destruction. Such means that the relationship between risk and hazard shares a direct proportionality.
Conclusion
The concept of risk, hazard, and vulnerability in disaster management are important features that need to be understood for enhancing the level of preparedness, response, and reduction of the damage, injury, and destruction that may be caused. The various risk and vulnerability models can explain how hazards can be alleviated and foreseen, hence enhancing the level of preparedness for emergencies that can be avoided. To sum up, it is essential to note that hazards must not necessarily result in disasters.
References
Shah, A. A., Ye, J., Abid, M., Khan, J., & Amir, S. M. (2018). Flood hazards: household vulnerability and resilience in disaster-prone districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. Natural hazards , 93 (1), 147-165. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-018-3293-0
Akgün, İ., Gümüşbuğa, F., & Tansel, B. (2015). Risk based facility location by using fault tree analysis in disaster management. Omega , 52 , 168-179. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.omega.2014.04.003
De Silva, M. M. G. T., & Kawasaki, A. (2018). Socioeconomic vulnerability to disaster risk: a case study of flood and drought impact in a rural Sri Lankan community. Ecological Economics , 152 , 131-140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.05.010
Zio, E. (2016). Challenges in the vulnerability and risk analysis of critical infrastructures. Reliability Engineering & System Safety , 152 , 137-150. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2016.02.009
Porter, K. (2015). A beginner’s guide to fragility, vulnerability, and risk. Encyclopedia of earthquake engineering , 2015 , 235-260. http://www.sparisk.com/pubs/Porter-beginners-guide.pdf
