1. How does vulnerability become important in disaster risk reduction? 2. Why are some sectors or groups of society more vulnerable than others? 3. What are the repercussions when physical and structural aspects of society become devastated during and after disasters? 4. How does the physical environment contribute to the decrease or increase of level or degree of vulnerability?
Vulnerable groups find it hardest to reconstruct their livelihoods following a disaster, and this in turn makes them more vulnerable to the effects of subsequent hazard events.
The poor are usually more vulnerable to disasters because they lack the resources to build sturdy structures and put other engineering measures in place to protect themselves from being negatively impacted.
The economic damage caused by disasters varies. Capital assets and infrastructure such as housing, schools, factories and equipment, roads, dams and bridges are lost.
Vulnerability relates to a number of factors, including:
Physical factors. e.g. poor design and construction of buildings, unregulated land use planning
