RISK FACTORS
UNDERLYING DISASTERS
RISK FACTORS
Disaster risk as defined in the first module, has three
important elements such as:
1.Exposure - the “elements at risk from a natural or
man-made hazard event (Quebral, 2016).
2.Hazard-a potentially dangerous physical
occurrence, phenomenon or human activity that
may result in loss of life or injury, property damage,
social and economic disruption, or environmental
degradation.
3.Vulnerability - the condition determined by
Reduction of the level of vulnerability and exposure
is possible by keeping people and property as distant
as possible from hazards. We cannot avoid natural
events from occurring, but we can concentrate on
addressing the reduction of risk and exposure by
determining the factors causing disasters.
Risk Factors are processes or conditions, often
development-related, that influence the level of
disaster risk by increasing levels of exposure and
vulnerability or reducing capacity.
The following are also taken into consideration when
risk factors underlying disaster are involved:
⚫ Severity of exposure - which measures those who
experience disaster first hand which has the highest
risk of developing future mental problems, followed by
those in contact with the victims such as rescue
workers and 4 health care practitioners and the lowest
risk are those most distant like those who have
awareness of the disaster only through news.
⚫ Gender and Family - the female gender suffers
⚫ Age - adults in the age range of 40-60 are more stressed
after disasters but in general, children exhibit more stress
after disasters than adults do
⚫ Economic status of country - evidence indicates that
severe mental problems resulting from disasters are more
prevalent in developing countries like the Philippines.
Furthermore, it has been observed that natural disasters tend
to have more adverse effects in developing countries than do
man caused disasters in developed countries.
Factors which underlie disasters
1. Climate Change - can increase disaster risk in a
variety of ways – by altering the frequency and
intensity of hazards events, affecting vulnerability to
hazards, and changing exposure patterns. For most
people, the expression “climate change” means the
alteration of the world’s climate that we humans are
causing such as burning of fossil fuels, deforestation
and other practices that increase the carbon footprint
and concentration of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere. This is in line with the official definition
by the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) that climate change is the
2. Environmental Degradation - changes to the
environment can influence the frequency and intensity
of hazards, as well as our exposure and vulnerability to
these hazards. For instance, deforestation of slopes
often leads to an increase in landslide hazard and
removal of mangroves can increase the damage
caused by storm surges (UNISDR, 2009b). It is both a
driver and consequence of disasters, reducing the
capacity of the environment to meet social and
ecological needs. Over consumption of natural
resources results in environmental degradation,
reducing the effectiveness of essential ecosystem
3. Globalized Economic Development - It results in
an increased polarization between the rich and poor on
a global scale. Currently increasing the exposure of
assets in hazard prone areas, globalized economic
development provides an opportunity to build
resilience if effectively managed. By participating in
risk sensitive development strategies such as investing
in protective infrastructure, environmental
management, and upgrading informal settlements, risk
can be reduced. Dominance and increase of wealth in
certain regions and cities are expected to have
increased hazard exposure (Gencer, 2013).
4. Poverty and Inequality - Impoverished people are
more likely to live in hazard exposed areas and are less
able to invest in risk-reducing measures. The lack of
access to insurance and social protection means that
people in poverty are often forced to use their already
limited assets to buffer disaster losses, which drives
them into further poverty. Poverty is therefore both a
cause and consequence of disaster risk (Wisner et al.,
2004), particularly extensive risk, with drought being
the hazard most closely associated with poverty
(Shepard et al., 2013). The impact of disasters on the
poor can, in addition to loss of life, injury and damage,
cause a total loss of livelihoods, displacement, poor
5. Poorly planned and Managed Urban
Development - A new wave of urbanization is
unfolding in hazard-exposed countries and with it, new
opportunities for resilient investment emerge. People,
poverty, and disaster risk are increasingly concentrated
in cities. The growing rate of urbanization and the
increase in population density (in cities) can lead to
creation of risk, especially when urbanization is rapid,
poorly planned and occurring in a context of widespread
poverty. Growing concentrations 6 of people and
economic activities in many cities are seen to overlap
6. Weak Governance - weak governance zones are
investment environments in which public sector actors
are unable or unwilling to assume their roles and
responsibilities in protecting rights, providing basic
services and public services. Disaster risk is
disproportionately concentrated in lower-income
countries with weak governance (UNISDR, 2015a).
Disaster risk governance refers to the specific
arrangements that societies put in place to manage
their disaster risk (UNISDR, 2011a; UNDP, 2013a) within
a broader context of risk governance (Renn, 2008 in
