The societal costs of disasters around the world are continuing to increase and Pacific Island countries are considered some of the most vulnerable. This is primarily due to a combination of high hazard exposure coupl...The societal costs of disasters around the world are continuing to increase and Pacific Island countries are considered some of the most vulnerable. This is primarily due to a combination of high hazard exposure coupled with a range of social, economic, physical, and political vulnerabilities. This article contributes to the growing body of work that aims to understand the causal factors of disaster vulnerability, but with a specific focus on small island developing states. The article first develops a framework for understanding disaster vulnerability, drawing on extensive literature and the well-established Methods for the Improvement of Vulnerability in Europe(MOVE)framework, and second, applies this adapted framework using empirically-derived data from fieldwork on Emae Island, Vanuatu to provide a working understanding of the causal elements of disaster vulnerability. Drawn from a significant body of scholarship at the time, the MOVE framework was primarily developed as a heuristic tool in which disaster vulnerability is considered to be a function of exposure, susceptibility(socially, economically, physically, culturally, environmentally, institutionally), and a lack of resilience. We posit that this adapted framework for small islands should also include historical susceptibility,and we prefer livelihood resilience(as capabilities, social capital, knowledge, participation, and human rights) over lack of resilience. We maintain that understanding disaster vulnerability holistically, which is inclusive of both strengths and drawbacks, is crucial to ensure that limited resources can target the causal factors that produce vulnerability and help safeguard and improve livelihoods in both the short and long term.展开更多
An integral part of risk assessment for natural hazards, communal vulnerability assessment (CVA) is now receiving considerable attention, with the on-going International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). T...An integral part of risk assessment for natural hazards, communal vulnerability assessment (CVA) is now receiving considerable attention, with the on-going International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). This article expounds the definition of the CVA concept and its implication. In addition, it offers a brief discussion of the reasons why CVA has been neglected and its relationship with socio-economic and physical vulnerability assessment. The article also gives an explorative exposition of the methodology and application of communal vulnerability analysis in risk reduction.展开更多
The notion of“spatial vulnerability”is present in most disaster studies with a strong geographical connotation and accordingly is adopted at all scales,including the urban.While enabling mapping and visualizing risk...The notion of“spatial vulnerability”is present in most disaster studies with a strong geographical connotation and accordingly is adopted at all scales,including the urban.While enabling mapping and visualizing risk patterns at macroscales,this geocentric foundation fails to capture disaster risk dynamics associated with the urban spatial network—an element that plays a significant role in the everyday and emergency functioning of cities,enabling users'movement and interaction.Yet,urban vulnerability assessment overlooks this aspect and thus leaves urban disaster risk mechanisms partially unexplored.This study investigated the role of the network of urban public open spaces(UPOS)in the creation and progression of urban disaster risk in earthquake-prone settlements.Through a multimethod approach that integrates quantitative and qualitative methods and explores spatial configuration,planning policies,and practices of use of UPOS in everyday and emergency scenarios,our study demonstrated that UPOS configuration plays an active role in urban disaster risk.Urban public open spaces impact risk by influencing the exposure of pedestrians and their capacity for self-protection.The study further reconceptualized spatial vulnerability at the urban scale,as the fraction of vulnerability associated to the spatial network,highlighting the interplay of planning policies and spatial practices in its production and progression.Our findings make the notion of spatial vulnerability less ambiguous at the urban scale,by viewing the variable as an imbalance in capacities and exposure that generates spatially unsafe conditions.This refined conceptualization of spatial vulnerability becomes a lens for a more granular approach to urban disaster risk reduction and city planning by identifying and integrating sociospatial considerations.展开更多
文摘The societal costs of disasters around the world are continuing to increase and Pacific Island countries are considered some of the most vulnerable. This is primarily due to a combination of high hazard exposure coupled with a range of social, economic, physical, and political vulnerabilities. This article contributes to the growing body of work that aims to understand the causal factors of disaster vulnerability, but with a specific focus on small island developing states. The article first develops a framework for understanding disaster vulnerability, drawing on extensive literature and the well-established Methods for the Improvement of Vulnerability in Europe(MOVE)framework, and second, applies this adapted framework using empirically-derived data from fieldwork on Emae Island, Vanuatu to provide a working understanding of the causal elements of disaster vulnerability. Drawn from a significant body of scholarship at the time, the MOVE framework was primarily developed as a heuristic tool in which disaster vulnerability is considered to be a function of exposure, susceptibility(socially, economically, physically, culturally, environmentally, institutionally), and a lack of resilience. We posit that this adapted framework for small islands should also include historical susceptibility,and we prefer livelihood resilience(as capabilities, social capital, knowledge, participation, and human rights) over lack of resilience. We maintain that understanding disaster vulnerability holistically, which is inclusive of both strengths and drawbacks, is crucial to ensure that limited resources can target the causal factors that produce vulnerability and help safeguard and improve livelihoods in both the short and long term.
文摘An integral part of risk assessment for natural hazards, communal vulnerability assessment (CVA) is now receiving considerable attention, with the on-going International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). This article expounds the definition of the CVA concept and its implication. In addition, it offers a brief discussion of the reasons why CVA has been neglected and its relationship with socio-economic and physical vulnerability assessment. The article also gives an explorative exposition of the methodology and application of communal vulnerability analysis in risk reduction.
文摘The notion of“spatial vulnerability”is present in most disaster studies with a strong geographical connotation and accordingly is adopted at all scales,including the urban.While enabling mapping and visualizing risk patterns at macroscales,this geocentric foundation fails to capture disaster risk dynamics associated with the urban spatial network—an element that plays a significant role in the everyday and emergency functioning of cities,enabling users'movement and interaction.Yet,urban vulnerability assessment overlooks this aspect and thus leaves urban disaster risk mechanisms partially unexplored.This study investigated the role of the network of urban public open spaces(UPOS)in the creation and progression of urban disaster risk in earthquake-prone settlements.Through a multimethod approach that integrates quantitative and qualitative methods and explores spatial configuration,planning policies,and practices of use of UPOS in everyday and emergency scenarios,our study demonstrated that UPOS configuration plays an active role in urban disaster risk.Urban public open spaces impact risk by influencing the exposure of pedestrians and their capacity for self-protection.The study further reconceptualized spatial vulnerability at the urban scale,as the fraction of vulnerability associated to the spatial network,highlighting the interplay of planning policies and spatial practices in its production and progression.Our findings make the notion of spatial vulnerability less ambiguous at the urban scale,by viewing the variable as an imbalance in capacities and exposure that generates spatially unsafe conditions.This refined conceptualization of spatial vulnerability becomes a lens for a more granular approach to urban disaster risk reduction and city planning by identifying and integrating sociospatial considerations.
