ARC 393

Lecture 5
An Analitical Model on
Vulnerabilty

Shams Mansoor
Ghani
BRAC University
A recap on types of vulnerability

• Physical
• Social
• Economical
• Environmental

A recap on social levels of vulnerability

Schneiderbauer
and Ehrlich
(2006)

Identify
vulnerability in
six social levels:
• Reducing vulnerability is the key to DRR,
especially in the case of developing
economies like South Asia and Africa

• To reduce vulnerability of a population we

have to look deeply in the root causes and
dynamic pressure that resulted in the
vulnerability in the first place.
The Pressure and Release Model (PAR)

• The Pressure and Release (PAR) model understands

a disaster as the intersection between socio-
economic pressure and physical exposure.

• It was developed by Blaikie et al. (1994). The starting

point of the pressure and release model is that a
disaster is the intersection of two opposing forces:
the process generating vulnerability on one side, and
the physical exposure to hazard on the other.

• Increasing pressure can come from either side but

vulnerability has to be reduced to relieve the
pressure.
• Vulnerability is considered in three levels: root
causes, dynamic pressures and unsafe conditions.
• The Pressure and Release Model (PAR Model) is a
model that helps understand risk in terms of
vulnerability analysis in specific hazard situations.

• The strengths of the model are that it provides a

broad view of vulnerability, it gives weight to natural
hazards, and it provides a framework for looking at
livelihoods and vulnerability.

• The limitation of the model, is that it is a tool for

explaining vulnerability, not for measuring it. The
model cannot be applied operationally without a great
deal of data collection and analysis.
• The vulnerability of people is rooted in
social processes and underlying causes
which may be isolated from the disaster.

• The foundation of the PAR model is that

a disaster is the connecting factor
between two opposing forces. The two
opposing forces are what generate
vulnerability and the natural hazard
event.

• The release part of the model considers

the reduction of the disaster. To relieve
pressure, vulnerability has to be reduced
The Pressure Model or Crunch Model
Applying
PAR Model
Example:
Bangladesh
Flood 1987,
1988
Thank You