DISASTER READINESS & RISK REDUCTION PPT 2

EXPOSURE &
VULNERABILITY
KE N N E DY F. VA G AY
T E AC H ER II
S O LO T SO LO T N AT I O N A L H IG H S C H O O L
ELEMENTS EXPOSED TO HAZARD
EXPOSURE refers to the ‘elements at risk’ from a natural or
man- made hazard event. Elements at risk include the following:
1) People
2) Dwellings or households and communities
3) Buildings and infrastructures
4) Public facilities and infrastructure assets
5) Public and transport system
6) Agricultural commodities
7) Environmental assets.
Elements at risk can also refer to intangible elements such as
economic activities and infrastructure networks.
 CATEGORIES OF ELEMENTS EXPOSED TO
HAZARDS
PHYSICAL EXPOSURE
Is defined as “a factor within the environment that
can harm the body without necessarily touching it.”
 CATEGORIES OF ELEMENTS EXPOSED TO
HAZARDS
CULTURAL EXPOSURE
It is also known as social EXPOSURE, result from your
location, socioeconomic status, occupation and behavioral
choices.
 CATEGORIES OF ELEMENTS EXPOSED TO
HAZARDS
ECONOMIC EXPOSURE
It refers to major natural disasters which can and do
have severe negative short-run economic impacts.
 CATEGORIES OF ELEMENTS EXPOSED TO
HAZARDS
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE
It refers to state of events which has the potential to
threaten the surrounding natural environment and
adversely affect people’s health.
VULNERABILITY
• It is the state of susceptibility to harm from exposure to stresses
associated with environmental and social change and from the
absence of capacity to adapt.
• It is defines as “the characteristics and circumstances of a
community system or asset that make it susceptible to the
damaging effects of a hazard.
• The degree of loss to each element should a hazard of a given
severity occur.
• Vulnerability is the inability to resist a hazard or to respond when
a disaster has occurred. For instance, people who live on plains
are more vulnerable to floods than people who live higher up.
Factors Affecting Vulnerability
TYPES OF VULNERABILITY
Physical Vulnerability
• It may be determined by aspects such as population density levels,
remoteness of a settlement, the site design and materials used for
critical infrastructure and for housing United Nations International
Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).

Social Vulnerability
• It refers to the inability of people, organization and societies to
withstand adverse impacts to hazards due to characteristics
inherent in social interactions, institutions and system of cultural
values.
TYPES OF VULNERABILITY
Economic Vulnerability
• The level of vulnerability is highly dependent upon the economics
status of individuals, communities and nations. 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 by disaster.

Environmental Vulnerability
• Natural resources depletion and resource degradation are key
aspects of environmental vulnerability.
 MOST VULNERABLE SECTORS DURING
DISASTER
• Agriculture and Food
The agriculture sector in the Philippines is highly dependent on a
constant water supply and unpredictable growing seasons. Climate-
related changes disrupt farming activities and hamper agricultural
production resulting physical factors.

• Watersheds: Forestry, Biodiversity, and Water Resources

Major river basins in the Philippines are considered the lifeblood of
the Philippine economy. However, because of the pollution, unstable
resource use and the additional pressure brought on by climate change,
these areas have become less viable.
 MOST VULNERABLE SECTORS DURING
DISASTER
• Coastal and Marine Resources
Even without climate change, many parts of the Philippines coasts
were already getting damaged and deteriorating due to natural causes
or human induced activities.

• Human Health
Infectious diseases that are climate-sensitive become
vulnerabilities of a population that is threatened by the increasing
frequency of extreme climate events. Other diseases have
reemerged or have become harder to treat.
Risk Factors
Risk signifies the possibility of adverse
effects in the future. It is derived from the
interaction of social and environmental
processes, from the combination of physical
hazard and the vulnerabilities of exposed
elements.
 Triagram of Disaster Risk

Earthquak
e Tsunami Engineering
Floods Economic
Cyclones Social
Bushfires
Landslides
Volcanoes
RISK
Exposure
People
Buildings
Business
Infrastructur
e

Risk = Hazard x Exposure

x Vulnerability
Capacity
PHILIPPINE EXPOSURE AND
VULNERABILITIES TO NATURAL DISASTERS
PHILIPPINE EXPOSURE AND
VULNERABILITIES TO NATURAL DISASTERS
• 8 out of 10 cities most
exposed hazards to natural
are in the Philippines.

• Study also found that of

the 100 cities greatest
exposure with the to
natural hazard, 21 are in
the Philippines, 16 in
China, 11 in Japan and 8 in
Bangladesh.
PHILIPPINE VULNERABILITIES TO NATURAL
DISASTERS
• The Philippines lies in the Pacific typhoon belt and we are visited by an average of 20
typhoons every year.

• The rugged nature of our landscape makes our communities very vulnerable to
landslides, mudflows and other disasters.

• The Philippines is an archipelagic country with many small island.

• Many of our areas are also at below sea level

• With one of the longest coastlines in the world at 32,400 km, we have many areas that
are vulnerable to storm surges.

• The Philippines is still a primary agricultural and fishing economy. Disruptions in

agricultural and fishery production & destruction of our ecosystems will have devastating
effects on our economy and food security.
PHILIPPINE VULNERABILITIES TO NATURAL
DISASTERS
• Natural hazard risk is compounded in the Philippines by poor
institutional and social capacity to mange, respond and recover from
natural hazard events.

• The Philippines is considered “high risk” in terms of the country’s

ability to manage and mitigate the impacts of natural hazard and in
part due to ‘entrenched corruption and high levels of poverty’.

• Aside from being at risk to typhoons, the Philippines is also at risk to

volcanic, quakes and floods.