Definition:
Vulnerability derives from the Latin word vulnerare (to be wounded) and describes the potential to be harmed.
Human vulnerability is the threat to which human beings are exposed. They may be harmed physically or psychologically or both.
II. Vulnerability - Human nature:
1. Physical vulnerability:
The ordinary use of the word ‘vulnerability’ refers to the capacity to be wounded. The scientific use of ‘vulnerability’ has its roots in geography and natural hazards research but this term is now a central concept in a variety of research contexts such as natural hazards and disaster management, ecology, public health, poverty, secure livelihoods, famine, climate impacts and adaptation.
Although human race is at the top of food chain and they are considered to be powerful than other species, they are also vulnerable to the harmful effects of environment, climate, society,… which lead to acute distress experiences such as hunger, thirst, cold, fatigue, the pain of disease or accident or attack, and sexual tension.
For instance, people are affected by a lot of natural disasters every year. In Dominican Republic, the death toll at the 2010 Haiti earthquake was estimated from 220,000 to 316,000 (according to Haiti government).
Besides, there are lots of examples in other fields. In food production, although there have been many breakthroughs in agriculture, people are still likely to fall into hungers because of floods, droughts,… caused by climate change.
2. Psychological vulnerability:
Human beings are conscious about what happens to them. In the whole life, they must be aware and experience all forms of feeling.
For example, love needs can be frustrated by parting, separation, loss that is the result of human decision and in...
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On the 12th of January 2010, a quake 15 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince devastated the people of Haiti. The magnitude of the quake was 7.0 with many aftershocks to follow the initial quake. The damage was so cataclysmic which led to the occurrence of many casualties, about 300,000 people were injured and over one million were left homeless. Haiti is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere and is still struggling to rebuild itself. (Poster of the Haiti Earthquake, USGS Newsroom)
In 2010 a 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti. The earthquake left hundreds of thousands of people stranded without homes. It considered being the country’s worst earthquake in 200 years. It had destroyed so many buildings, homes, and office buildings. Haiti has always been a target for hurricanes and disasters of the ocean. Haiti is still trying to recover from all the devastations. Due to the earthquake, many Haitians live in run down homes. Four years later, some areas look the same after the earthquake hit the country.
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