SUBJECT: Earth and Life Science DEADLINE:

DATE & TIME: TEACHER: Ms. Princes Jhoy G. Batanes

I. TOPIC: Vulnerability
 Definition of Vulnerability
 Reasons Why Certain Sectors of Society are More Vulnerable to Disaster than Others
 Elements at Risk and Exposed to Hazards
 Philippine Exposure and Vulnerabilities to Natural Disasters
 Philippines Vulnerabilities to Natural Disaster

II. LEARNING COMPETENCY

The learner shall be able to:
1. Explain the meaning of vulnerability. (DRR11/12-Ic-8)
2. Explain why certain sectors of society are more vulnerable to disaster than others. (DRR11/12-Ic-9)
3. Recognize vulnerabilities of different elements exposed to specific hazards. (DRR11/12-Id-12)
4. Differentiate among hazards, exposure, and vulnerabilities and explain the relationship of the three to disaster
risk. (DRR11/12-Id-13)

III. TARGET OUTCOMES:

At the end of the lesson, the student is expected to:
1. Explain the meaning of vulnerability, capacity and resilience within the context of disaster risk
2. Determine the vulnerability of exposed elements.
3. Enumerate the different elements exposed to hazards.
4. Give examples of hazard, exposed elements and their vulnerabilities from historical events within the
Philippines.

IV. MATERIALS NEEDED:

To accomplish exercises and activities, you need the following: black pen, pencil and/or other writing materials
and other available references.

V. GEAR UP YOUR MIND

The severity of the impacts of disasters and other extreme weather and climate events depends strongly on the
level of vulnerability and exposure to these events.

 If we are going to shake the table, which object would be affected the most by
shaking?
 Why do you think it would be affected the most?

1.1 Vulnerability
 defined as “the characteristics and circumstances of a community, system or asset that make it susceptible to the
damaging effects of a hazard”.
 Vulnerability can be seen as the result of a process in which various different things cause a population to be more
vulnerable. These can be split into demographic and socio-economic. They can also be discussed through the level
of community preparedness and the ability of a community to manage the after effects of a hazard event
 The Philippines is known to be very vulnerable to different kinds of disasters, hence there is a need for strategies to
increase awareness, information campaign and disaster preparedness level among the Filipinos.
 As indicated by United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), “there are many aspects of
vulnerability, arising from various physical, social, economic, and environmental factors”.
 Examples may include:
 Poor design and construction of buildings and other infrastructures
 Inadequate protection measures of assets
 Lack of public information and awareness
 Limited official recognition of risk and preparedness measures
 Disregard for wise environmental management. (ADPC, 2012)

According to the UNISDR, there are four (4) main types of vulnerability:

1. Physical Vulnerability
 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)
2. Social Vulnerability
 refers to the inability of people, organizations and societies to withstand adverse impacts to hazards due to
characteristics inherent in social interactions, institutions and systems of cultural values.
3. Economic Vulnerability
 The level of vulnerability is highly dependent upon the economic 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 disasters. The
same people are the least prepared due to lack of access to education and information.
4. Environmental Vulnerability
 Natural resource depletion and resource degradation are key aspects of environmental vulnerability. This is one
aspect that both communities and government must be sensitive about. Mitigation measures like reforestation and
natural resource protection and conservation must be undertaken to reduce natural disaster risk and vulnerability.

1.2 Reasons Why Certain Sectors of Society are More Vulnerable to Disaster than Others

Vulnerability can be seen as the result of a process in which various different things cause a population to be more
vulnerable. This can be split into demographic and socio-economic. They can also be discussed through the level of
community preparedness and the ability of a community to manage the after effects of a hazard event

1. Demographic Factors

 Population Density
 the more dense the population, the more efficient a response should be, considering the number of people
that might be affected by a disaster
 Age of Population
 very old and very young populations are less mobile and able to respond to hazard events well. This makes
them more vulnerable compared to others, and this requires more attention from the government and other
support agencies especially during emergency evacuation or relocation.
 Distribution of population
 regardless of density, populations may be distributed differently within hazard area, e.g. elderly people on
lower floors of apartment buildings, or concentrations of highly vulnerable people in poorer areas of a city

2. Socio-economic factors

 Wealth
 low income populations are less likely to be well prepared. Part of the preparation is having a Survival Kit
that includes tools to be used, emergency food stock and water that could last for at least 3 to 5 days. Poor
families will find a hard time to do such preparation due to lack of money to spend.
 Education
 Education programs such as the Metro Manila Development Authority’s (MMDA) shake drill can instruct
populations on how to deal with hazard events, like the “Big One”- the anticipated 7.8 magnitude
earthquake that may strike Metro Manila anytime
 Nature of Society
  In highly centralized government structures, efficient emergency response may be the result of careful
planning and training of personnel. However, it can also lead to bureaucracy and a lack of autonomous
decision making, which slows down distribution of relief goods and emergency response efforts in case of
extreme emergency.
 Understanding of the area
 Recent immigrants are likely to struggle to cope with hazard effects compared to established population.
Understanding the area is salient factor to be considered in Disaster Preparedness Planning, and this will
give greater advantage to the established or original settlers in a particular area affected by disaster.

3. Community Preparedness

 Building Codes
 Rigoruos and applied building codes protect most buildings from collapse during earthquakes. This should
be seriously considered by the government in the issuance of building permits and licenses for land
development
 Scientific monitoring and early warning systems
 Established monitoring system can prepare people for the onslaught of any kind of disaster
 Communication works
 Countries with good quality widespread communication networks allow messages to be quickly shared.
Communication plays a very important and crucial role in times of disaster. Communication Plan is a very
salient component of Emergency Planning that should not be left out.
 Emergency Planning
 Preparation is the key element of prevention. Preparation for a disaster is embodied in an Emergency Plan.
Where monitoring and communication are in place, the emergency planning is likely to prepare a person or
a group (family) for such events and take action based on data, rather that prediction.

4. Dealing with the after effects

 Insurance cover
 Another important aspect of preparation is how to deal with the after effects of a disaster. Parts of their
preparation, individuals purchase insurance policies to mitigate their losses, thus preparing them better for
similar future events.
 Emergency Personnel
 These are trained for community preparedness. The availability of such personnel will vary depending on
the time of day and location of the hazard event.
 Aid Request
 Outside help in the form of humanitarian aid is necessary during disaster. However, it should be fast and
efficient. Inefficiency and mismanagement of aids, especially foreign aids, will possibly result to further
deaths and loss of property. Foreign aids in the form of monetary and material aid poured in immediately
after the onsluaght of Typhoon Yolanda.

1.3 Elements at Risk and Exposed to Hazards

Persons, houses, buildings, infrastructures, transportation systems, financial establishments, crops, environmental
sources of living, and others like societal components exposed to known hazard, which are likely to be adversely by the
impact of hazard.

Risk Factors
Risk signifies the possibility of the adverse effects in the future. It is derived from the interaction of social and
environmental processes, from the combination of physical hazards and the vulnerabilities of exposed elements.
Fig. 1 – Triagram of Disaster Risk

Earthquake H VUL
Tsunami A NE
Floods Engineering
Z RA
Cyclones Economic
A BI
Bushfires Social
Landslides
R RISK LI
Volcanoes D TY
EXPOSURE

People
Buildings
Business
Infrastructure

The diagram illustrates the concept of risk which combines an understanding of the likelihood of a hazardous event
occurring with an assessment of its impact where:

Risk = Hazard x Exposure x Vulnerability

Capacity

The left side of the triagram shows the different natural hazards that may occur in an area at any given period of
time. The base of the triagram indicates the different elements exposed to hazard/disaster. On the right side, factors and
elements of vulnerability are presented.

Philippine Exposure and Vulnerabilities to Natural Disasters

According to a report, eight of 10 world cities most exposed to natural hazards are in the Philippines and more than
half of the 100 cities most exposed to earthquakes, storms and other disasters are in four Asian nations, according to
research. (Philippine Star, 2014)
The study, published by risk analysis firm Verisk Maple croft, analyzed the threat posed by storms, floods,
earthquakes, tsunamis, fires, volcanoes and landslides in more than 1,300 cities.
The study found that the 10 cities most at risk are Port Vila in Vanuatu followed by Tuguegarao in Cagayan, Lucena
in Quezon province, (4) Manila, (5) San Fernando in Pampanga, (6) San Carlos (The report did not indicate which province
in the Philippines but most likely in Pangasinan) and 10 Naga in Bicol Region.
The study also found that of the 100 cities with the greatest exposure to natural hazards, 21 are in the Philippines,
16 in China, 11 in Japan and 8 in Bangladesh.

Philippines Vulnerabilities to Natural Disaster

The following bullet statements explain why the Philippines is vulnerable to natural disasters specifically from the
effects of climate change (Climate Change Primer Manuscript, 2014)
 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 landslide, mudflows and other
disaster.
 The Philippines is an archipelagic country with many small islands
 Many our areas are also at or below sea level, and this us vulnerable to flooding and worst, inundation with rise in
the sea level.
 With one of the longest coastlines in the world at 32,400 kilometers, we have many areas that are vulnerable to
storm surges.
 The Philippines is still a primarily agricultural and fishing economy. Disruptions in agricultural and fishery production
and destruction of our ecosystem will have devastating effects on our economy and food security.
 Natural hazard risk is compounded in the Philippines by poor intuitional and societal capacity to manage, 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” (Rappler, 2014)
 Aside from being at risk to typhoons, the Philippines is also at risk to volcanic eruptions (we have active volcanoes),
quakes (several fault lines were identified) and floods (we have denuded mountains).

REFERENCES Quebral, Villamor S, 2016, Disaster Readiness & Risk Reduction, Lorimar
Publishing Inc., Quezon City, Metro Manila,