Understanding Disaster Risk: Risk Assessment and Methodologies and Examples

Disaster risk is a combination of not only the likelihood and severity of a particular
hazard event but also about the exposure to that hazard and the vulnerability of the
exposed. According to the Sendai disaster risk framework definition, there are three
disaster risk variables considered: (a) hazard: the adverse event causing loss; (b)
exposure: the properties, people, plant or environment that are threatened; and (c)
vulnerability: how the exposure at risk is vulnerable to an adverse event. In addition,
according to the Sendai Framework, the fourth variable is the capacity which is the
ability to respond during and after the event. This variable is also a component of
vulnerability. The suffered loss will depend upon the weight of each factor to the
exposed at risk.
Risks are dynamic and dependent to the changes of the hazard, exposure, and
vulnerability.