RTUComputer ScienceYr 2023 · Sem 82023

Q3Disaster Management

Question

2 marks

What is vulnerability in the context of disaster management?

Answer

Vulnerability is the absolute mathematical susceptibility of a community, physical structure, or economic system to suffer catastrophic damage when exposed to a specific hazard due to socio-economic or engineering weaknesses.

A hospital built with unreinforced masonry in a seismic zone possesses extreme physical vulnerability. An impoverished coastal village lacking early warning communication systems possesses catastrophic socio-economic vulnerability to a cyclonic storm surge.

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