Social vulnerability is “the characteristics of a person or group in terms of their capacity to anticipate, cope with, resist and recover from the impact of a natural hazard. It involves a combination of factors that determine the degree to which someone’s life and livelihood are put at risk by a discrete and identifiable event in nature or in society (Zurich, 2010).” The difference between social and physical vulnerability is physiological versus psychological. People’s physical vulnerability refers to their susceptibility to biological changes (i.e., impacts on anatomical structures and physiological functioning), whereas their social vulnerability refers to their susceptibility to behavioral changes (Lindell, Prater, & Perry, 2006). Three demographic characteristics that play into social vulnerability are gender, age, and ethnicity.
One of the more controversial topics still existing in the United States outside of race is gender. In most cases, women’s standards are still well below those of men, even after centuries of progression. This also plays a significant factor in social vulnerabilities. The biggest example of this is a woman’s role outside of the corporate world. Women are also more vulnerable to disasters because of their roles as mothers and caregivers: when disaster is about to strike, their ability to seek safety is restricted by their responsibilities to the very young and the very old, both of whom require help and supervision companies (Rygel et al., 2006). Women are also more susceptible than men is because single moms, regardless of divorced, widowed or never-married, live a more poverty based lifestyle because of their responsibilities to their children, therefore have a harder time recovering from a disaste...
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Flanagan, B.E., Gregory, E.W., Hallisey, E.J., Heitgerd, J.L., and Lewis, B. (2011). A Social Vulnerability Index for Disaster Management. Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. 8(1), 3-6. http://svi.cdc.gov/Documents/Data/A%20Social%20Vulnerability%20Index%20for%20Disaster%20Management.pdf.
Perry, R.W., Prater, C.S., & Lindell, M.K. (2006). Fundamentals of Emergency Management. Retrieved from http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/fem.asp.
Rygel, L., O’Sullivan, D., and Yarnal, B. (2006). A Method for Constructing a Social Vulnerability Index: An Application to Hurricane Storm Surges in a Developed Country. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change. 11, 741-764. DOI: 10.1007/s11027-006-0265-6. http://www.cara.psu.edu/about/publications/Rygel_et_al_MASGC.pdf.
Waugh, William L, and Gregory Streib. "Collaboration and Leadership for Effective Emergency Management." Public Administration Review, 66.6 (2006): 131-140.
They found that various socio-demographic predictors of flood risk impact the difference across flood zone categories. The main residents in inland flood zones are non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic, while coastal flood zones have more higher median income and housing value residents. I considered the study a valuable reference for future flood hazard research and comprehensive public policy making. Social groups with higher vulnerability also tends to stay instead of moving away, for they do not have the affordability for moving to other neighborhood, giving up what they have and almost start from scratch. Thus, they are actually the group of people that suffers the most and paying the most towards natural events. It is also important for the government to create a official help system to improve their resilience.
The National response plan outlines four key actions the disaster coordinator should take. They are gaining and maintaining situational awareness, activate and deploy key resources and capabilities, coordinating response actions and demobilizing. Throughout the response it is essential that responders have access to critical information. During the initial response effort the situation is will change rapidly. Situational awareness starts at the incident site. For this reason it is essential that decision makers have access to the right information at the right time. By establishing an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) all key responders are brought ...
Both man-made and natural disasters are often devastating, resource draining and disruptive. Having a basic plan ready for these types of disaster events is key to the success of executing and implementing, as well as assessing the aftermath. There are many different ways to create an emergency operations plan (EOP) to encompass a natural and/or man-made disaster, including following the six stage planning process, collection of information, and identification of threats and hazards. The most important aspect of the US emergency management system in preparing for, mitigating, and responding to man-made and natural disasters is the creation, implementation and assessment of a community’s EOP.
Bissell, R. (2010). Catastrophic Readiness and Response Course, Session 6 – Social and Economic Issues. Accessed at http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/crr.asp
Elliott, J. R., & Pais, J. (2006). Race, class, and Hurricane Katrina: Social differences in human responses to disaster. Social Science Research, 35(2), 295-321.
It is a multidimensional human condition and constant human experience with the reduced ability to protect oneself (Cousley, Martin, & Hoy, 2014). Bailey (2010) describes vulnerability as an internal conflict which brings feelings of hopelessness, helplessness and lack of control. Vulnerability as defined by Scanlon & Lee (2006) can be broken into three dimensions, physical, social, and psychological aspects. Physical vulnerability can be identified by the potential risk of harm in the environment. Social vulnerability include age, sex, and ethnicity. Psychological vulnerability refers to the feelings associated with the loss of control and can be manifested by stress and anxiety. Vulnerability can be measured by the potential harm and the capacity to overcome it, as stated by Spiers (2000). Only the person experiencing vulnerability can truly understand its implications as it is a unique and individualized experience. (Thorup, Rundqvist, Roberts & Delmar, 2012). Vulnerability can be better understood by examining the external and internal risk factors that increase an individual’s
Introduction “The Pressure and Release Model understands a disaster as the intersection between socio-economic pressure and physical exposure. Risk is explicitly defined as a function of the perturbation, stressor or stress and the vulnerability of the exposed unit” (Coll, 2017). The disaster I have chosen to apply the Pressure and Release model to is Hurricane Harvey, Texas. I will discuss this disaster in relation to the pressure and release model which includes vulnerability and physical exposure. Inequalities and root causes lead to unequal social conditions, this makes a certain area more vulnerable to natural hazards (Tapsell et al., 2017).
Summary An announced multidimensional crisis simulation was developed in conjunction with the site Operations Manager (VP Operations) and local fire department to allow the site incident response and Crisis Management Team to exercise their teams by demonstrating and practicing their capabilities related to incident response, crisis management, and business continuity. The exercise was used to validate capability, processes, improve inter-organizational coordination, and provide for improvisational practice and decisions. The simulation was requested to provide opportunity for the site Crisis Management Team to under stress of a simulation practice procedures and identify improvements. Preparation for the simulation occurred through multiple site visits and discussions that allowed for facts gathering, discussion, and procedure review.
The thought of an apocalyptic disaster can be very scary to think about, and in an emergency situation the truth of the matter is that many of us would not be prepared and sadly would not be able to survive. Just as we have seen in recent years through hurricanes, tsunamis, and other natural disaster more people would have been able to survive if they were only more educated about survival practices. This guide can be helpful for anyone that might come face to face with a disaster first hand. 1) Basic Strategies a) Don’t Panic: One of the most important steps, if not the most important is not to panic. It is fine to feel scared, but it is so important to plan the steps you take next.
Vulnerability entails exposure to various risks and harm in the society; there are diverse groups of people in a community that susceptible to these injuries. The results that accrue from direct interaction between resources that are available to them and the life challenges that associate with the same. Some of the primary elements that depict people in the community as vulnerable entail problems with development aspects, possibly underprivileged in social status, personal incapacities, degraded neighborhoods, inadequate level of networks with other people in the community and the overall interaction with the environment. The elements that affect life course of an individual with regards to resources and aspects of the environment that one gets exposure to lead to either part of priority or neglect (Edin and Shaefer, 2012). Social values are therefore evident in this terms; the fact that a group of people get attention more than others, or feel neglected define the social values and how the community upholds the type of individuals.
Natural disasters can cause to destroy multiple homes causing the home owners to not really having anywhere to go. Not only that, but all there private, expensive or even spare money are gone because of the disaster. Not a lot of people realize that, that can happen to a lot of people. “What we found is there’s a very close overlap between the countries that we expect to have very high levels of poverty still in 2030 and the countries most exposed to natural hazards. And now this shouldn’t really come as a surprise because we
For the past several thousands of years, hurricanes have devastated and destroyed various parts of the world. These tropical storms are feared highly among humans and wildlife because of their non-stopping force that rips through establishments and environments. The world has been affected tremendously in recent years due to the increasing occurrences of hurricanes, making it a threat to all societies and producing social issues. Unfortunately, the social issues that hurricanes press are due to its destruction that in turn produce loss in environments, resources and life. The increasing occurrence of hurricanes and how these disasters affect the social aspects of the world are essential to human knowledge, specifically in order to reduce the
Emergency management is often described in terms of “phases,” using terms such as mitigate, prepare, respond and recover. The main purpose of this assignment is to examine the origins, underlying concepts, variations, limitations, and implications of the “phases of emergency management.” In this paper we will look at definitions and descriptions of each phase or component of emergency management, the importance of understanding interrelationships and responsibilities for each phase, some newer language and associated concepts (e.g., disaster resistance, sustainability, resilience, business continuity, risk management), and the diversity of research perspectives.
Of the four phases of emergency management, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, perhaps the place that individuals can make the biggest difference in their own state of resiliency and survival of a disaster is in the preparedness phase. Being prepared before a disaster strikes makes sense yet many people fail to take even simple, precautionary steps to reduce the consequences of destruction and mayhem produced by natural events such as earthquakes, volcanos and tornados (see Paton et al, 2001, Mileti and Peek, 2002; Tierney, 1993, Tierney et al, 2001).