Exposure and

Vulnerability
Chapter 2
DISASTER
READINESS AND
RISK REDUCTION
Vulnerability
• It is the characteristics and circumstances of a community,
system or asset that make it susceptible to the damaging
effects of a hazard

• Factors of Vulnerability
Demographic Factors
Population Density
Age of Population
Distribution of Population
 Dealing with After - Effects
Insurance Cover
Emergency Personnel
Aid Request

Socio – economic Factors

Wealth
Education
Nature of Society
Understanding of the area

Community Preparedness
Building codes
Scientific monitoring and early warning system
Communication networks
Emergency Planning
4 types of Vulnerability
Physical Vulnerability
It may be determined by aspects such as population
density levels, remoteness of a settlement, the site design and
materials used for critical infrastructure and for housing United
Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).

Social Vulnerability
refers to the inability of people, organization and
societies to withstand adverse impacts to hazards due to
characteristics inherent in social interactions, institutions and
system of cultural values.
4 types of Vulnerability
Economic Vulnerability
The level of vulnerability is highly dependent upon the
economics status of individuals, communities and nations. The
poor are usually more vulnerable to disasters because they lack
the resources to build sturdy structures and put other
engineering measures in place to protect themselves from being
negatively impacted by disaster.

Environmental Vulnerability
Natural resources depletion and resource degradation
are key aspects of environmental vulnerability
Elements Exposed to Hazard
Exposure refers to the element at risk from a natural or man –
made hazard event.

• Human beings;
• Dwellings or households and communities;
• Building structures;
• Public facilities and infrastructure assets;
• Public transport system;
• Agricultural commodities; and
• Environmental assets
Quantifying Vulnerability
• It is used in estimating how much mitigation and
preparedness measures will be applied.
• Based on data about the interesting of the previous hazard
events and severity of their effects.
• It can be expressed as:
0 – lowest degree of vulnerability
1 – highest degree
People: Ratio of casualties / injured to the total population
Buildings: Expressed as a repair cost or degree of damage
Risk Factors
• Risk signifies the possibility of adverse
effects in the future. It is derived from the
interaction of social and environmental
processes, from the combination of
physical hazard and the vulnerabilities of
exposed elements.
 Triagram of Disaster Risk

Earthquake
Tsunami Engineering
Floods Economic
Cyclones Social
Bushfires
Landslides
Volcanoes
RISK
Exposure
People
Buildings
Business
Infrastructure

Risk = Hazard x Exposure x Vulnerability

Capacity
Philippine Exposure and
Vulnerabilities to Natural Disaster
• 8 out of 10 cities most
exposed to natural
hazards are in the
Philippines. (Philippine
Star, 2014)
• Study also found that of
the 100 cities with the
greatest exposure to
natural hazard, 21 are in
the Philippines, 16 in
China, 11 in Japan and 8
in Bangladesh
10 World Cities Most at Risk
1. Port Villa in Vanuatu
2. Tuguegarao in Cagayan
3. Lucena in Quezon
4. Manila
5. San Fernando Pampanga
6. Cabanatuan in Nueva Ecija
7. Batangas
8. Taipei
9. San Carlos , Pangasinan
10. Naga in Camarines sur
Philippine Vulnerability to
Natural Disaster
• The Philippines lies in the Pacific typhoon belt and we
are visited by an average of 20 typhoons every year.
• The rugged nature of our landscape makes our
communities very vulnerable to landslides, mudflows
and other disasters.
• The Philippines is an archipelagic country with many
small island.
• Many of our areas are also at below sea level
• With one of the longest in the world at 32,400 km, we
have many areas that are vulnerable to storm surges.
• The Philippines is still a primary agricultural and fishing
economy.
Philippine Vulnerability to
Natural Disaster
• Natural hazard risk is compounded in the Philippines by
poor institutional and social capacity to mange, respond
and recover from natural hazard events.
• The Philippines is considered “high risk” in terms of the
country’s ability to manage and mitigate the impacts of
natural hazard and in part due to ‘entrenched corruption
and high levels of poverty’.
• Aside from being at risk to typhoons, the Philippines is
also at risk to volcanic, quakes and floods.
• Facts about the are before and after the disaster
• What caused the disaster?
• When and where did the disaster took place?
• How extensive was the area affected?
• Was the cause of the disaster forecasted or predicted?
• Were there warning issued?
• How did the people react to the warning?
• How many lives were lost?
• How many were injured and missing?
• Quantify it in terms of peso
• What could have prevented the lost of many lives