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The Basic Concept of Hazard, Exposure, and (PWDs), women, and children. Besides, they are the so-called
Vulnerability abused sector and at a low level of society.

Table of Contents 2. Less Vulnerable Sector

The Concept of Vulnerability 1-2
The Three Vulnerable Sectors 1
Categories of Vulnerability 1-2
The Concept of Capacity 2-3
Capacity Development 3 level of society. Their role in disaster management activities is to
Coping Capacity 3 extend assistance and support to vulnerable sectors.
Capacity Assessment 3
Reference 3 3. Not Vulnerable Sector
The Concept of Vulnerability
What is vulnerability? What is the effect of weakness to disaster?
The concept of vulnerability comes from many aspects,
specifically, those that arise from various social, economic, physical,
and environmental factors. Examples may include poor design and
construction of buildings, inadequate protection of assets and lack of
public awareness, limited official recognition of risks and
preparedness measures, and disregard for wise environmental
management (ODPM, 2013). Vulnerability is also a set of prevailing or
consequential conditions, which adversely affect the community's
ability to prevent, mitigate, prepare for, and respond to hazardous
events. These long-term factors affect a household or community's
ability to absorb losses after a disaster and to recover from damage.
Vulnerability is present in the community or society even before an
emergency happens. It precedes failure; contribute to its severity,
impede disaster response, and may continue to exist long after a
disaster has struck.
The Three Vulnerable Sectors
1. Most Vulnerable Sector
They are the community members whose capacities are low and
not sufficient to withstand and overcome the damaging and
adverse effects of disasters. They are composed of farmers,
urban poor, laborers, indigenous people, persons with disabilities
They are the community members whose capacities start from
their own ability to acquire material resources, skills, and pieces
of training, and position in society. Their roles are higher than
those in the vulnerable sector to overcome the adverse effects of
disasters. They are composed of professionals, small
entrepreneurs, and others similar to those who belong to the high
This is the sector in society having a high position in the
community. Most of the time, they are the targets of the vulnerable
and less vulnerable areas in advocacy work in relating disaster
issues to the structure and policies implemented by the
government that is the root cause of vulnerability of the
community.
Categories of Vulnerability
According to Anderson and Woodrow (1990), there are three (3)
areas of vulnerability, referring to the following:
1. Physical / Material Vulnerability
For example, poor people who have few physical and material
resources usually suffer more from disasters than rich people.
Poor people often live on marginal lands; they don't have any
savings or insurance; they are in poor health. Their physical and
material resources are miserable. These factors make them more
vulnerable to disasters and mean that they have difficulty surviving
and recovering from a calamity than people who are better off
economically.
• Location and type of housing/building materials
• Land, water, animals, capital, other means of production
(access and control)
• Infrastructure and services: roads, health facilities, schools,
electricity, communications, transport, housing, etc.

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• Human capital: population, mortality, diseases, nutritional
status, literacy, numeracy, poverty levels
• Environment factors: forestation, soil quality, and erosion
2. Social / Organizational Vulnerability
People who have been marginalized in social, economic, or
political terms are vulnerable to suffering from disasters. In
contrast, groups, which are well-organized and have high
commitment to their members, suffer less during emergencies.
Weakness in social and organizational areas may also cause
accidents. For example, deep divisions can lead to conflict and
war. Conflict over resources due to poverty can also lead to
violence. The second area of vulnerability then is the social and
organizational aspect of a community.
• Family structure (weak/strong)
• Leadership qualities and structure
• Legislation
• Administrative structures and institutional arrangements
• Decision-making structures (who is left out, who is in,
effectiveness)
• Participation levels
• Divisions and conflicts: ethnic, class, caste, religion, ideology,
political groups, language groups, and structures for
mediating conflicts
• Degree of justice, equality, access to political processes
• Community. organizations: formal, informal, traditional,
governmental, progressive
• Relationship to government, administrative structures
• Isolation or connectedness
3. Attitudinal / Motivational Vulnerability
People who have low confidence in their ability to affect change
or who have "lost heart" and feel defeated by events they cannot
control are harder hit by disasters than those who have a sense
of their ability to bring the changes they desire. Thus, the third
area of vulnerability is the attitudinal and motivational aspects.
• Attitude toward change
• Sense of ability to affect their world, environment, get things
done
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• Initiative
• Faith, determination, fighting spirit
• Religious, beliefs, ideology
• Fatalism, hopelessness, despair, discouragement
• Dependent/independent (self-reliant)
• Consciousness, awareness
• Cohesiveness, unity, solidarity, cooperation
• Orientation toward past, present, and future
The Concept of Capacity
What is capacity?
According to 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.
Some examples of capacity are:
a. Ownership of land and safe location and construction of a
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. Various individuals, families, and groups in the
community have different weaknesses and capabilities. These are
determined by age, gender, class, social class, ethnicity, language,
religion, and physical location.
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Capacity Development
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
development objectives over time." Moreover, UNDP (2009),
identified several 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 capabilities 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 different managerial capacities and
performance-enhancing measures; and
• 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.
Coping Capacity
It is also essential to understand the community's coping capacity
concerning the 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 with 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.
Capacity Assessment
Capacity assessment is the process to determine how people
cope in times of crisis to reduce the damaging effects of hazards.
Through capacity assessment, the community's coping strategies and
resources, which are available, for disaster preparedness, mitigation,
and prevention, are identified. The capacity assessment process
involves the following key components:
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1. Understanding people's previous experiences with hazards and
the coping strategies they have developed; and
2. Analyzing resources that are available and used by the community
to reduce disaster risk.
Several tools can be used to ensure the community's participation
in capacity assessment. These include the following:
a. Historical profiles and timelines—reveals how people cope with
adverse events in the past;
b. Seasonal calendar—visual presentation of economic activities,
coping strategies, availability of money and time, etc.;
c. Gendered resource mapping and gendered benefit analysis—
show differences in access to and control over resources between
men and women in households and the community;
d. Livelihood Analysis—insights on the coping strategies of
individual households;
e. Institutional and social network analysis—formal and informal
service structures for the delivery of community services;
f. Presence of. service delivery institutions, banking organizations,
human resources, the status of media, and availability of disaster
preparedness equipment will reflect the capacity of a community
or district; and
g. An inventory of various equipment and human resources in the
communities and districts can be prepared.
REFERENCE:
Lanada, M.I.B., Melegrito, M.L.F., & Mendoza, D.J. (2016). Building
resilient communities: Disaster readiness and risk reduction.
Phoenix Publishing House
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