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.